Having opened North American servers in 2008, Grand Chase has now shut down its servers worldwide. April 15th saw the end of one of the biggest 2D side scrolling beat ’em up MMOs on the market, and it’s an unfortunate loss. Grand Chase was one of of the big pioneers in it’s style of MMO and it will be sorely missed.

The game’s Korean developer KOG has turned Grand Chase’s players toward another of their games, which is very similar in many ways; Elsword. The core gameplay is almost a carbon copy, but the graphics and controls are updated some, as well as giving players more skill customization. Hopefully, Elsword will be a good fit for Grand Chase players. In addition, KOG is even giving Grand Chase players a massive boost in Elsword if they continue playing on the same account. The details are here; a boosted starting level based on your highest level in Grand Chase, a bunch of in-game items, and some of the cash shop money you spent in Grand Chase will come over as well.

It’s always sad to see a game go offline like this, but it’s nice to see that KOG had a new home already set up for its players.

Are there any in the Niche Gamer Nation that have fond memories of Grand Chase? I know I do.