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Sony To Delete Virtual Goods

Posted by Soulskill on from the satisfaction-is-not-guaranteed dept.

New submitter dommer2029 writes "A few years back, Sony bought up a small company running an online collectible card game called Star Chamber: The Harbinger Saga. Two days ago, they announced that the servers will be shutting down on March 29, 2012. All of our virtual collectible cards? Poof. It's not surprising — the user base is small and dwindling — but it's proof that any server-based digital goods you 'own' can vanish on a corporation's whim."

4 of 171 comments (clear)

  1. Nothing to see here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    I don't like Sony any more than most people here, but let's face it. Online game servers shutting down are bound to happen eventually. Accordingly, it's implied that purchases made in virtual worlds won't last beyond the life of the world itself. There's no need to spin this story into Sony taking candy from babies.

  2. Translation by srussia · · Score: 3, Informative

    In the real world "virtual goods" are called "services". That's why they exist on "servers".

    --
    Set your phasers on "funky"!
  3. Re:What did you think was going to happen? by DanielRavenNest · · Score: 3, Informative

    The same thing that will happen to any "cloud" service. Think of this as an early warning about the future of the "cloud". If you are wise, keep personal copies locally, and use the cloud for extra backup or convenient access. Otherwise when someone else's server goes down for whatever reason (leap day, no profits, etc.), you are fucked.

  4. Previous SOE Virtual Good Shutdowns by odie5533 · · Score: 3, Informative

    SOE previously shut down Lord of the Rings Online TCG and Stargate Online TCG, so this is not their first time pressing the big delete key on everyone's purchases.