Guys, it’s time we all leveled with each other. It’s time we ripped the bandaid off really fast. It’s time we swallow our medicine all in one big gulp.

The Instance: The Old Republic Edition is being cancelled. Today. (ouch…but now that the hard part is out of the way, let’s explain the state of things, shall we?)

My intent with this blog post is to be as honest as I know how to be. While some of this might sound a little harsh, especially to the ToR faithful, I feel like I owe you the most truthful post I can muster.

Why are we ending the show? Here are our reasons:

- Player interest in ToR has hit an all time low, and stuff like GW2 and other games are just making it less and less relevent. I know that many of you who still play the game will have a natural instict to deny this, but it’s true. The game simply did not live up to it’s hype, or generate the kind of long term ecosystem a MMO needs to sustain extended community involvement. (One could argue this is partially due to Bioware / EA not being willing to do what is needed in the long haul to ensure it. I think it’s more complicated than that, but that’s a post for a different day.)

- The ToR news cycle is dead. Visit any blog dedicated to the game and see for yourself. There is just nothing going on there. Bioware used to send us PR multiple emails per week. Lucky to see something twice a month now.

- Now the biggest problem: While Dills is still enjoying the game, I am finding myself with slightly less than zero drive to play ToR. I try. I’ve paid for a year. I get in, I try, I get bored, and I think about all the other games I could be playing, and I get out.

I made a bet. I bet that ToR would be able to build and sustain the same kind of community ecosystem that WoW did / does. I was wrong. (Feels good to admit it actually.) That game just does not live up to the promise. Ask me in 2007, I would have had a different answer. But in the saturated MMO 2012 world we live in now, with all its tired mechanics and over-used systems? Not a great time for ToR to be what ToR ended up being.

Continuing to do a regular show about a game that I have no more interest in, is not worth doing. Not for me, and not for you.

Dills and I are still going strong on The Instance Prime, and busy with lots of other projects. We’ll let you know if anything new and cool comes up.

Are you still loving the game? That’s GREAT! You should make a show about it! Really glad to hear that it’s the right fit for some people. I wish it turned out to be for us. Again, I made a bet. The house won.