The online version of Wizards of the Coast’s famed strategy card game is now blocking new accounts being made. The reason for this? It’s shutting down on the 28th of March next year. Announced in a thread on Sony Online Entertainment, Community Relations staff member Piestro stated the following: “We are honored to have been a part of bringing you the magic of the Multiverse over the last few years. It has been a fun and memorable journey, and we thank you for all of your dedication and support.” No further packs of cards will be available for purchase following the 18th of November.

Announced in 2009 and released in 2011, Magic: The Gathering – Tactics has had a comparatively short life to many other online titles with such a large brand name. Despite criticism of some design choices by the developers, especially the monetary requirements to be successful, this is a surprising announcement. The game had seen some success with its design and had only been released onto Steam early last year. Furthermore, the actual reason for the game closing down has yet to be stated.

Any money not yet spent on the game will, as with previously cancelled titles on the network, reside in the SOE wallet to be utilised in other games. Unfortunately for fans this is the only good news, as it has been announced that SOE will retain all coding and data for the game. Furthermore they have explicitly stated they will not authorise or permit any fan operated or emulated servers. This means that beyond the shutdown date, the game will be completely unplayable.

The message ended stating that any further questions would be answered by customer services.

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