TERA is Shutting Down in June, 2022.

Did you know that TERA was shutting down? Yes, completely. No, this isn’t a joke. As of June 2022, the game will no longer be playable. Which is such a surreal revelation to attempt to grasp.

With this somber announcement, however, came a lot of hate. A lot of finger-pointing. A lot of projection towards the wrong parties responsible for this. Which we’re going to clear up, while also discussing the game’s closure.

So, Gameforge, the only publisher for TERA left after En Masse closed their North American offices recently, made a blog post on their website titled “The Adventure Ends.”

“Hello TERA players, Unfortunately, we come bearing bad news: TERA’s developers, Bluehole, have decided to cease work on TERA. After much consideration, the team in South Korea have come to the conclusion that they are no longer able to offer you the exciting and satisfying content you deserve.”

Right there, in their very first sentence, Gameforge openly admitted who was at fault here. Bluehole studios, the South Korean developers of TERA and more recently, Elyon, have decided that it is not in their best interests to continue active development of the game.
Players, however, see Gameforge’s announcement and immediately jump to the conclusion that “Gameforge is a bad publisher, it’s all their fault.”
And that just isn’t true. I’ve had my fair share of poor interactions with publishers, but Gameforge has always been respectful and professional in our dealings. And despite their mishandling of some of their games in the past, this closure is not at all their fault.

“As the last remaining publisher of TERA, it is with a heavy heart that we must respect Bluehole’s decision, and will also have to shut down the game.
The TERA servers will be switched off at 10 AM CEST (4 AM EDT) on 30th June 2022. Until then, we’ll be running some permanent events, in the hope that you’ll at least be able to enjoy these final months in Arborea.”

The events in question include a 300% increase in loot dropped in every dungeon, triple the loot and gold from Vanguard quests, a reduced entry cost for dungeons, and increased enchantment chances when upgrading gear.
Which – and I’m gonna be real here – probably should have been in the game already.
Maybe if Bluehole had taken the time to make adequate adjustments to areas of the game that needed significant improvement, they wouldn’t have to close the game. There are games much older with much healthier populations out there. Yet TERA is a better title than pretty much all of them. Especially Elyon, which is a dumpster fire.

“After nearly 10 long years, the TERA legend must sadly come to an end. Together we’ve braved so many of Arborea’s perils, fought valiantly against the argons, made many new friends and gone on countless adventures. We would like to thank you for your loyalty, for accompanying us on this long journey, and for being such an amazing community! For more details regarding TERA’s shutdown, please read our FAQs. Our days in Arborea may be numbered, but the next adventure is just over the horizon. We hope to see you again soon in one of our other games. Until then!
The TERA Team”

Again, this is kind of surreal. I’ve been playing TERA since it launched. I still have my Founder’s title. I’ve went back to this game every single year. If it wasn’t for this game, Mrs Stix never would have happened across the video that introduced us to one another.
TERA had a lot of issues. There’s no denying that. But every game has them. Sometimes developers know how to fix them, other times they don’t. Unfortunately this was the latter in the case of Bluehole, as they’ve proven they’re not only incompetent when it comes to TERA, but also Elyon.
Elyon was the spiritual successor to TERA, and within 30 days had declined in active players to a point lower than TERA had in the span of a decade. Which goes to show that the Bluehole of the 2010s is not the Bluehole of the 2020s. Any competent talent they had is now gone.

It’s always sad to see an MMO shut down. Especially when the MMO is as good as TERA is at its core.
I guess, what we’re all thinking now, is what is Bluehole going to develop to replace TERA, and what does Gameforge have left after the loss of it? Aion? With a lower playerbase than TERA? Swords of Legends? Which also shares a low playerbase?
Who knows. But so many MMOs have shut down in the span of the last 24 months that I’m a little concerned what’s going to come next.