NCsoft will shut down Master X Master just months after launch
Game scheduled to go offline in January 2018, developer "heartbroken"
Just months after its launch, the "heartbroken" team behind NCsoft's MOBA Master X Master has announced that the game will go offline on January 31, 2018.
The game, which only launched in June this year, hoped to position itself against genre giants League of Legends and Dota 2 but "wasn't enough to take on the established juggernauts".
In a statement, NCsoft thanked the MXM community for its support and laid out the what was next for the game.
"Deciding to close the game is not a decision we come to lightly, but ultimately it came down to a matter of business - we explored several options, but none of them were sustainable," said the developer.
"We truly believe that MXM is special, and offered a lot of new ideas to change up the MOBA genre, but in trying to carve out a niche for itself, we failed to connect with players."
Until the game goes offline in a few months, players will be able to unlock all in-game content for free, real money purchases on the MXM Store will be permanently disabled, and refunds will be issued on any purchases made between August 30 and November 16.