Four SOE MMOs marked for closure

The severs running four MMOs published by Sony Online Entertainment will be shut down by August.

The online games firm announced it will close Clone Wars Adventures and Free Realms on March 31st, followed by Wizardry Online and Vanguard: Saga of Heroes on July 31st, according to CVG.

The reasons behind these closures are largely related to the shrinking number of active players. 

SOE said Free Realms has "reached a stage in its lifecycle where players are growing up and moving on to other games", while Vanguard’s player population had decreased to the point where it became "difficult to justify the resources needed to support and update this game".

Subscribers to Wizardry Online and Vanguard have been promised that their memberships will be upgraded to SOE’s All Access Pass, a new model the firm has created that gives users access to a range of MMOs for a single monthly fee.