The War Of Genesis 4: Spiral Genesis To Shut Down On May 1st

The War of Genesis 4: Spiral Genesis originally launched in Korea on March 23, 2016 as part of the long-running The War of Genesis series, a series of RPGs created by Korean developer Softmax. At the time that the game had launched, the series was celebrating its 20th anniversary, having originally begun in 1995. You may know Softmax best for games like SD Gundam Capsule Fighter Online, but the company started out as an RPG developer, albeit the two MagnaCarta games are the only RPGs of theirs that have officially made it to the West.

The War of Genesis 4: Spiral Genesis set itself apart from other MMORPGs by allowing players to control a full party of characters. This mechanic makes sense due to the series being primarily composed of SRPGs, with The War of Genesis 3 incorporating a "minor real time element" in which players could control multiple "individually uncontrollable characters surrounding the leader character." It's a unique feature and one that I wish I could say caught on.

Unfortunately, it was evident for some time now that The War of Genesis 4: Spiral Genesis wasn't doing well. Headlines about the game were few and far between and there didn't seem to be much discussion about it.

On Friday, my suspicions were confirmed. The War of Genesis 4: Spiral Genesis will be shutting down on May 1st, the game having celebrated its first year online just over a week ago.

It is unknown at this time how the quick shut down will affect the 22 year old company, which had been developing The War of Genesis 4 for eight years, more than one-third of its existence. According to MSN's reports on the Korean stock exchange, the company has been losing money since 2015. Furthermore, the all-time stock price record shows that the company's stock has been in decline since October of last year, having recently leveled off somewhat. The commercial failure of The War of Genesis 4 can't be doing the company any favors.

A Western release was never announced, nor were any other releases in foreign markets. As the game is shutting down in its home market of Korea, it is likely that no foreign versions of the game will ever exist.

It should be noted that this is not Softmax's first foray into online gaming. The company also ran an online service for The War of Genesis 3: Part 2, called "The War of Genesis Arena," from 2000-2004 in which multiple players each controlled a single character, ultimately cooperatively controlling a full party.