Bulgarian developer Masthead Studios, after a long and difficult year, has decided to pull the plug on Earthrise, their sci-fi/fantasy MMO. In a statement, studio director Atanas Atanasov said that “Earthrise was released too early and did not meet the expectations of its fans.” Atanasov also issued a challenge to other developers who might seek to create an MMO such as the ill-fated Earthrise. “I hope that one day an independent studio will be able to release the long anticipated open-world sandbox MMO, which everyone is talking about, but no one is making.” A previously planned free-to-play version of the game is still in the works, but its release hinges on the interests of investors and publishers.