On 21 November 2008, weeks after Richard's announcement, "Tabula Rasa"'s development team also released an open letter indicating that the game would end public service on 28 February 2009, citing a lower than expected in-game population as the major factor for the decision. Developers also announced that any active paying player as of 10:00 AM Pacific Time on November 21, 2008 will be eligible for some rewards, including paid time on other NCsoft titles (any paying subscribers joining after that point are ineligible). On Dec 9th 2008, a letter was sent by NCsoft stating that all Tabula Rasa servers would be shut down on February 28, 2009, and that Tabula Rasa would be discontinued. The servers became free to play on January 10, 2009. On February 27, 2009, a message posted on the official website requested that players participate in a final assault, culminating with mutual destruction of AFS and Bane forces.