The Sims Online Facing Cancellation in August

Time has evidently run out for The Sims Online, with word coming down that the game will be closing its doors for the last time on August 1, 2008:

We share the sadness of the entire community in writing this blog to announce that the EA-Land experiment is being brought to an end. Decisions such as these are never easy and the rationale for closing EA-Land is particularly complex. Regardless, it is hard to see the end of the collective investment of emotion, time and friendship.

The lifetime of the game has drawn to an end, and now we will be focusing on new ideas and other innovative concepts in the games arena. We’d like to thank everyone who has taken part in this online community as a unique experience in the virtual world.

I can’t say that I was ever a player, but, if nothing else, it seems the game served as an interesting social experiment. Over the course of its release it went on to simulate real life all too well, becoming home to a number of thieves, scam artists, money launderers, and even a teenage prostitution ring.

Coming on the heels of last year’s layoffs of many of the staff who still remained working on Ultima Online, it seems EA is looking to free up all of their available resources in the MMO genre for Warhammer Online, and the upcoming mystery project from BioWare Austin.

Taking into account EA’s long and storied history of MMO cancellations, of which this is only the most recent chapter, if I were on either of those teams, I might be getting nervous.