OGRank - Space Cowboy Shutting Down

Dear SCO Community,

For some time now, a large majority of you have been crying out for answers. The lack of content updates, the continual updates made to Ace Online overseas, and my diminished presence in the SCO community. I am writing this letter to give you all the answers you seek and deserve, however these may not be the answers you wanted to hear.

As some of you may know, Ace Online is now owned by another publisher. Gala-Net was given a cease and desist letter from this publisher, requesting that we shut down Space Cowboy as they now possess the rights to the game within the US region. We here at Gala-Net immediately resisted this claim and began to take action. Several plans and proposals were formed by us here at Gala-Net, and I was sent to Korea in an attempt to negotiate some sort of compromise.

Gala-Net has fought for one of two goals. Either the continuation of our service in the US complete with updates, or the voluntary transfer of your characters to a new publisher.s service. We recognize that many of you have spent a significant amount of your time in our game worlds. It is this very reason for which we fought with great resolve. Unfortunately no compromise was able to be reached, and no transfer could be agreed upon.

For the past few months the SCO forums have been filled with complaints and angry posts regarding the status of the game. These posts are written by players of every gear, every faction, and every country of the real world. Many of you have taken note of my patience during this era of flaming and hatred.

I have patience with the anger of this community because I share that anger with you. Space Cowboy is a game of great potential. It has been a game of recreation, a game of solitude, a game of friends and comrades, a game of conflict and competition. In my time here working on SCO, I have seen leaders succeed and fail, I have seen heroes rise and fall, and I have seen brigades form and dissolve.

I have done everything within my power to fight for Space Cowboy, and I do not possess a single regret regarding my work here. Gala-Net has been incredibly supportive in my fight for SCO, however unfortunately, sometimes passion and hard work just isn't enough.

Space Cowboy servers will be shutting down on 12/26/2007. Gala-Net cares deeply for our users, and we wish to provide those who have supported us with various forms of reimbursement. E-mails will be sent out in the coming weeks to your respective email addresses detailing any reimbursements that your account is eligible for.

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Thank you,

GM Xarfox