RIFT Design Director Hopes to Gift Game to Community Upon Closure (in the Future)

Having gone free to play earlier this year, RIFT is doing better than ever. The game has a long time to go until it’s time to close shop, but senior design director Simon Ffinch is looking to the future and how Trion Worlds will handle the game on that fateful closure date.

Speaking with GamerZines, Ffinch spoke openly on the topic of what he would like to see happen when Trion’s RIFT is no more.

“So this is probably going to get me into all sorts of trouble, but I would hope that when that day comes, as we’ve talked about many years in the future. I would hope that Trion shows that it’s the company that I truly believe it to be and gives RIFT as a gift to the community.”

“That would be the way I’d like to see RIFT go. It’s like, ‘Guys thank you for playing for the past 20 years, here’s the server code. Run it if you wish’.”

Will RIFT be able to run for 20 years? While that would be ideal for fans and for Trion Worlds, even if its lifespan is a bit shorter the promise of player-run servers is reassuring.

‘Private server’ is sort of a dirty word among the standard MMORPG community, so it’s surprising to see a Trion employee hint they would be encouraging the game the live on even after they close its doors officially.  That said, handing the server code over to the playerbase ensures there are no broken hearts in closure.

Though Ffinch’s words are reassuring to current players, whether they truly hold water will only come to light once RIFT nears the end of its days. Judging by the game’s current popularity, we won’t have to worry about a closure scenario for quite some time. Could it really be 20 years? Well, we’ll see.