It has been six months since Sony launched their massively multiplayer online shooter MAG and as with many online games, time has started to dwindle their numbers.
MAG fan and Kotaku reader JG Mills wrote to us to ask: "How long will Zipper & Sony support the MAG servers as their user numbers are dropping?"
Great question Mills. Let's find out.
The short answer, from Sony Computer Entertainment of America, is: "There are still lots of people playing MAG, so there are no plans to alter support of the servers." But the much better answer comes directly from Ken Inagaku, Sr., staff producer at SCEA:
MAG continues to record a strong and steady number of player account logins each day and boasts a robust community that has up to this date logged 1.27 billion kills and a total of 1.11 million games played. SCEA and Zipper are fully committed to supporting MAG indefinitely. Since launch, MAG has received seven patches that have been a direct result of community feedback. We continue to listen to our players and implement new features on a consistent basis; just today, we announced that Sabotage maps are going faction-neutral. Community support goes beyond new content and features with our Double XP and "Play with Zipper" events.
We've also had a total of three DLC releases since launch: two free-the Trooper Gear Pack on March 25 and the Fast Attack Gear Pack on April 29-and the Interdiction Pack, which included a new game type with three new 128-player maps. In addition, we've announced future DLC coming this summer, including Clan Wars, more faction-neutral maps, additional character slots, the ability for all three factions to wage war in one map, and much more. Stay tuned for additional announcements as we continue to expand the Shadow War.
So rest those fears Mills, it sounds like Sony still has plenty of plans ahead for MAG. In fact, shortly after responding to us, Zipper Interactive's Jeremy Dunham revealed that all maps in their Sabotage game mode are now "faction neutral." (More details here)
Hope that helps Mills.
If you have a question you'd like us to look into email us at inquiringminds@kotaku.com. No promises that we'll answer all questions, but if it's a keeper we'll do our best.