Bless Online is shutting down today, for the two players that cared

Today marks the departure of Bless Online, the game that everyone in North America and Europe were eagerly expecting… until it finally showed up, asked for your money upfront and delivered a big pile of nothing.

And bugs. And unfulfilled promises. Bless Online was a huge disappointment, instead of the beautiful medieval fantasy MMORPG that players were hoping for. Bless Online is shutting down today, after a year and a half of delusions.

It was no surprise to see Neowiz announcing the shutdown in June 2019. The switch to free-to-play was a desperate attempt to convince a few players that the game was worth checking, but it should have been free since the beginning, just like its Korean counterpart.

The Bless Online team left a message to their supporters, saying that things didn't work out as they expected, but the experience of creating Bless Online served as a great learning experience. They are going to use it with the upcoming free-to-play Xbox One exclusive Bless Unleashed, and with future titles.

So, Bless Online is shutting down and it won't be missed, but it managed to fool us for quite a few years, when it was looking good – in theory. Neowiz has to live up to the expectations with Bless Unleashed, because a second failure after so many millions of dollars invested without any decent return may be a bad omen for the studio. We should know how it goes in a few months.