Popular game to close down forever in weeks as players told they’ll need to buy new £430 console to ever use it again
SWATHES of players of a popular online game have been told they need to upgrade their console if they want to keep playing.
Black Desert Online has announced to its 20million-strong fanbase that it will soon shut down for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One players.
In an upcoming update, the online version of the action multiplayer online role-playing game (MORPG) will shift focus to the existing PC version of the game, and the all-new PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S versions.
The update is scheduled for 26 June, and is touted to be the biggest update yet for Black Desert Online.
The game, developed by Pearl Abyss, has been online for nearly a decade.
But as the game grows, developers may have butt heads with limitations that come with older hardware – like the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Both consoles were released in November 2013 – making them roughly 11 years old.
Once Black Desert Online migrates over to PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, it will be unavailable to download or play on PS4 or Xbox One.
In-game purchases on these older consoles will also be restricted in the lead up to the switch off.
Gamers who are looking to upgrade will be able to transfer their data, to ensure their progress isn’t lost, according to developers.
When Black Desert Online is made available on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S after maintenance, players will be able to pick up from where they left off – as long as they upgrade to a newer console.
Alternatively, players can switch to the popular PC version of the game, and avoid the hefty upgrade fee.
The cheapest PS5 is the digital edition, which costs £429.99 / $450 after a recent price hike in the UK.
While the Xbox Series X|S costs £429.99 / $500 and £249 / $300 respectively.
But players had little sympathy for those gaming on older consoles.
“Hope all the players have PS5s by now,” one player wrote on Reddit.
Xbox Series X specs
Here are the geeky bits...
- Custom AMD Zen 2 CPU (8 cores, 3.8GHz)
- Custom AMD RDNA 2 GPU (12 teraflops)
- 16GB GDDR6 RAM
- 1TB SSD
- 4K UHD Blu-ray drive
- 4K 60fps, up to 120fps / 8K
Another replied, saying: “Nah I’m sure there’ll be a flood of posts about how unfair it is for PS4 owners that deserve to be treated exactly the same as PS5 owners, wahh, wahh, wahhhh!!!!”
A third player wrote: “You’ve had quite some time to upgrade my dudes.”
Black Desert Online’s fanbase aren’t the only ones going through some changes.
Mobile game War of Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius is also set to shut down on 30 May.
Developers Square Enix announced the “difficult decision” to shutter the game after concluding “it would be difficult to maintain a satisfactory app experience” in future.
In-game sales of currency and special items have been halted.
Although it is possible to spend the currency that has already been purchased.
Square Enix also ended support for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles on iOS due to an unfixable bug.
And another mobile game, Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, was retired in October 2024.
PlayStation 5 specs
These are the geeky bits you'll want to know about...
- AMD Zen 2 8-core CPU (3.5GHz)
- AMD RDNA 2 GPU (10.28 teraflops, 2.23GHz)
- 16GB GDDR6 RAM
- 825GB SSD storage
- 4K gaming at 60fps, up to 120fps / 8K