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<generator>Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/</generator><item><title><![CDATA[Near Death Studios closes down]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/01/01/near-death-studios-closes-down/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/01/01/near-death-studios-closes-down/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/01/01/near-death-studios-closes-down/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/fantasy/" rel="tag">Fantasy</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/meridian-59-evolution/" rel="tag">Meridian 59</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/mmo-industry/" rel="tag">MMO industry</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/news-items/" rel="tag">News items</a></p><a href="http://meridian59.neardeathstudios.com/"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" align="top" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2010/01/m59-neardeath-epl-101.jpg"  alt="" /></a><br />
If 2009 hadn't claimed quite enough lives for your tastes quite yet -- in terms of companies, jobs, and games -- you might have a bit of a morbid approach to things.  We're just over the border into the new year, but it looks like there was one last item on the chopping block.  <a href="http://www.neardeathstudios.com/">Near Death Studios</a>, the team behind <a href="http://meridian59.neardeathstudios.com/"><em>Meridian 59</em></a>, is no longer simply "near" death, but over the line into pining for the fjords.  <a href="http://www.psychochild.org">Brian 'Psychochild' Green</a> <a href="http://www.psychochild.org/?p=884">broke the news on his blog yesterday</a>, announcing that while the game wouldn't be going anywhere, it would no longer be a commercial venture run by the now-defunct company.<br />
<br />
So what went wrong?  As <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/brian-Green/">Green</a> puts it, while <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/Near-Death-Studios/">Near Death Studios</a> was able to raise the money and the operational talent to get the game running and keep it in maintenance mode, the game never really grew -- the one shot it might have had at attracting new players was unfortunately timed right around the launch of <a href="http://www.worldofwarcraft.com"><em>World of Warcraft</em></a>.  He's not bitter about the experience, however, and he's glad that he had the chance to keep <em><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Meridian-59/">Meridian 59</a> </em>running for such a long time and help shape something people really enjoyed.  It's a <a href="http://www.psychochild.org/?p=884">sad announcement</a> for a venerable game, though, and we can only hope that this is the last of the fallout we see from the closing-filled year.<p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/01/01/near-death-studios-closes-down/">Near Death Studios closes down</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Fri, 01 Jan 2010 18:00:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://www.psychochild.org/?p=884>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/01/01/near-death-studios-closes-down/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/19299959/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/01/01/near-death-studios-closes-down/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>brian-green</category><category>brian-psychochild-green</category><category>closing</category><category>company-closing</category><category>m59</category><category>meridian</category><category>meridian-59</category><category>near-death-studios</category><category>news-items</category><category>psychochild</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Eliot Lefebvre]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 01 Jan 2010 18:00:00 EST</pubDate></item></channel></rss>
