Epic Games failed paragon and they know it. 

These are the words from the official statement on the company’s website. Epic’s admission of guilt is the only good thing to come from this saga. They didn’t take the easy way out and blame it solely on player numbers or anything like that. Instead, they owned up to their mistakes and are offering full refunds for anyone who spent money on the game. 

While it’s refreshing to see a studio take full responsibility for their mistakes, it still doesn’t change the fact that Epic failed Paragon and its fans. The problem isn’t the fact that they’re shutting the game down, it’s that they handicapped it from the moment Fortnite started to take off.    

It’s no secret that Paragon’s death is due to the success of Fortnite. Last month in an official post on Reddit, Epic announced that “a number of Paragon team members jumped onto Fortnite to help sustain the game as it has grown far larger than anything in Epic’s past.” 

The truth is, Paragon has been doomed since last summer when Fortnite first took off. These kinds of games, if they don’t explode in popularity immediately like Fortnite Battle Royale, need to be nurtured and cared for. League of Legends wasn’t an instant success, neither were Dota or Counterstrike, but their studios steadily built these games and nurtured their communities until they became some of biggest games in existence.

Paragon may have never reached those levels even with the best circumstances. It’s nevertheless a shame to see a promising game be forgotten by the wayside, especially with so many promises left unfulfilled.  

Epic Games will officially shut down the Paragon servers on April 26, 2018. In the meantime, they warn that “As the player population continues to decrease, matchmaking times and quality will further degrade.”