All good things come to an end. Ubisoft announces Ghost Recon Phantoms' demise.
A Ubisoft community manager revealed in a forum post that Ghost Recon Phantoms (GRP) didn't turn out to be as successful as the company hoped for. Moreover, while failing to point out specifics reasons for why the game was running bad, Ubisoft stated that the game has reached final cycle of its development. Thus, French video game developer/publisher decided to close it down and shift its focus to some other projects.
"GR Phantoms has been a tremendous undertaking and we really relished the opportunity to bring to you a different take on the GR franchise," writes Ubisoft. "We would like to thank you for all this great moments and fun we shared with you."
Ubisoft is giving its GRP community three months to settle all their in-game business. The game will get shutdown on Dec. 1. Ubisoft specifies that while the in-game shop remains available until the specified shutdown date, players will no longer be able to buy Ghost coins.
Ghost Recon Phantoms, formerly known as Ghost Recon Online, is a free-to-play (F2P) multiplayer third-person tactical shooter video game, which was released as part of Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon game series. The game entered its closed beta testing phase back in 2011 and a Wii U-port was announced.
A year later, in Aug. 2012, a beta version was released for PC while the Wii U-port development was put on hold. However, it wasn't until April 2014 that the game got officially released and became Ubisoft's first entry into the F2P online shooter market.
With its four-year run since the beta version release, GRP has amassed a solid following of gamers with some who have spent sizable amounts on it. Of course, news of the shutdown didn't sit well with them.
"This is one of the few games you have that I thoroughly enjoy," writes Raven Barger in response to Ubisoft's game shutdown notice. "You know, you could have revamped this game into something much better and gotten so much more out of it. I'm honestly disappointed in you lately Ubi."
"I have 4 years invested in this game and probably over a $1000.00," says Chris Hood. "Thanks UBI FOR ENDING MY GAMING as i know it!"
Note that refunds and virtual currency conversion to another game aren't possible with Ubisoft's terms of use and terms of sale does. GRP players who still have premium currency have ninety days to invest them in the game, which won't be accessible after the shutdown.
Along with the game's closure, Ubisoft will also shut down GRP's official forum. However, Ubisoft will save user data even after the shutdown.
"According to our Privacy Policy, your data will be saved but not shared with any parties outside of Ubisoft," explains a Ubisoft community manager. "Please contact our customer support team if you want to request the deletion of your personal data."
Ghost Recon Phantoms is not alone in its current predicament. Earlier this week, Ubisoft also announced that The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot, a free-to-play real-time-strategy game, will get shut down on Oct. 25.
"This is the end for one chapter of the Ghost Recon story, but for sure it won't be the last," Ubisoft parts with Ghost Recon Phantoms players while pointing to future Ghost Recon games such as Ghost Recon: Wildlands, which was showcased during E3 2016 that was held last June.
