Looks like the folks at Paradox Interactive have stopped their publishing of Seatribe’s MMO, Salem. Not all is lost for the developer, however, as Paradox has been awesome enough to give them full rights to continue the MMO on their own (very decent of them). In addition, Paradox released this forum post today, explaining the situation:
Dear Salem community,
We’ve sure shared an incredible journey together since we announced this game back in January 2011! The two-man development team Seatribe has done something few thought was possible and have worked relentlessly to develop a game that has gained a very loyal and dedicated community. Together with Paradox Interactive, Seatribe has built a strong foundation, and we have all major systems and structures needed to run a game like Salem: The Crafting MMO in place. Thanks to the collaborative efforts of the development team and a dedicated team from Paradox the community has since continued to grow and the game has been put on the radar of the global gaming community.
As we approach the 2,5 year anniversary of the announcement of the game and after nearly a year in Beta, Seatribe and Paradox have taken stock and evaluated both where we are today and what we think the future has in store. Our conclusion is that the game is active and much potential still lies in the game and its community, but that the concept still needs time and development to mature. To ensure longevity of this title and to have a set up that will allow Seatribe to work with this game for many months/years to come we have therefore decided to take some steps to optimize how the game is managed today and the costs of running it.
Effective from July 8, Seatribe will assume full support management and development ownership of Salem: The Crafting MMO. Any decisions taken from that point on will be taken by and communicated through Seatribe to you – the community. Paradox Interactive will start phasing out their involvement in the project from today and on July 8 the game for all intents and purposes will be Seatribe’s to run.
We firmly believe this decision is in the best interest of Seatribe, Paradox Interactive and absolutely for the community as you will have a development team working even more direct with you and the game.
As a “thank you for our time together” parting gift we would like to offer you a 50% off coupon to use in the Paradox web shop (http://www.paradoxplaza.com/shop) as well as 40 silver to use in Salem. The offer will be sent via e-mail to those of you who have accepted to receive Salem e-mails from us. The e-mail will be sent within two weeks. If you would like to receive our e-mails but don’t currently, please adjust your settings here http://signup.paradoxplaza.com/
Kind regards
Paradox Interactive & Seatribe
* offer valid until 2013-08-10 and only for released titles, not pre-orders
