On 10 September 2021, the servers of the MMO shooter were finally shut down. This makes it unplayable even if you have paid for the game.
Warhammer 40K: Eternal Crusade is dead. And while the game itself has been much criticised within its community, players are still reacting with disappointment – and anger. Because even if you spent the full purchase price or money in the Free2Play model back then, you can no longer play Eternal Crusade from now on.
After only five years, the servers were shut down on 10 September 2021. On Steam, there is this short farewell from the developers:
“Thank you! Hello Crusaders. As we announced earlier, we have sent the game into the sunset today. As part of the shutdown, we have removed all personal data.
We are proud of all the work that has gone into Eternal Crusade and the amazing community that has supported the game. Thank you for everything, we appreciate your support over the years. Thank you for this adventure. The crew of Eternal Crusade. ”
Servers off, game gone
Eternal Crusade disappointed many expectations at release – and afterwards – because it made false promises and failed to deliver. It was once billed as the second Planetside, but quickly proved to be a brazen Early Access disaster.
Now all the servers have been shut down. And since there were no private servers, no one can play the online-only game Eternal Crusade anymore. No matter if and how much money was spent on it – after the release debacle, the game became Free2Play, but offered ingame purchases for real money.
On Steam, even after years, it was only good enough for a “mixed” rating in the user reviews. And the reviews of the last 30 days are downright devastating – in Steam jargon, “predominantly negative”. Many players give free rein to their frustration and disappointment. For example, Squirrelboy135 writes:
“For what it offered, it was a really nice game. But it was not what it was advertised as. It was a total scam, the player base died and they did nothing about it. Overpriced DLC cosmetics. Unbalanced factions. This company is a bunch of idiots. Don’t waste your money, they’re closing completely on September 10 with no other servers to go to. I hope the company goes down with the game.”
Many other players also write of cheating, deception and broken promises. Eternal Crusade was not a particularly successful project – but even the loss of bad games is everyone’s business
And there are also positive voices thanking the developers for their time with Eternal Crusade and praising the game despite its flaws. Nyx writes on the ending:
“Sad, but not unexpected. I had good times with the game and in the end that’s all that matters. ”
It’s far from the first time a game has disappeared from the screen: Fortunately, in the case of the old role-playing games Ultima and Syndicate, there was good news.