Remember TERA? It’s dead now in Japan

I do remember TERA!

Ever play TERA, aka TERA Online? Well, I hope you aren’t playing on TERA Japan servers.

As announced on the official Japanese Twitter account for the game, service will be “terminated” in that region on April 20, 2022 at 8:30AM JST. No concrete reason was given for the closure, other than the fact that it was discussed with Bluehole Studio.

The closure of the Japanese servers, a region where MMOs still thrive, is concerning for the worldwide viability of TERA. But for now the game is still trucking. TERA was a game that struggled to compete in an increasingly competitive MMO space (including the stark shift to free-to-play with tiered membership levels), but found a niche, and has been around for a little over a decade now. Seven years ago, it was the most popular MMO on Steam; while, off-Steam, Star Wars: The Old Republic and Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn would go on to start carving up the genre on top of the continued steady success of World of Warcraft.

I’ve played a lot of MMOs, and some of them blend together, but I do have vivid memories of TERA. I can recall playing it nearly a decade ago, and I continued to dabble in it when it reached the shores of PS4 and Xbox One in 2018. The action combat system was fun, and while there were some issues, it felt distinctly different at the time. A Realm Reborn would go on to eat its lunch later on, especially with the controller-centric style of play, which has eventually led to this TERA Japan closure.

https://twitter.com/teraonline_jp/status/1483669949592014850?s=20