Electronic Arts to Discontinue ‘Majestic’

Electronic Arts Inc. has quietly canceled “Majestic,” an online computer game that debuted this summer amid much fanfare but since has garnered just 15,000 players.

Officials of the nation’s largest independent game publisher confirmed that “Majestic” will be discontinued in mid-2002. In October, EA said it would cease signing up new players on the Internet, but would start selling a boxed retail version of the game. The company said then that the online sign-up procedure was too cumbersome, causing nine out of 10 people to abandon the process.

EA invested millions of dollars to create the game, which sends players clues to an elaborate mystery via phone calls, e-mails, faxes, fake Web sites and instant message dialogues. But with just 15,000 players paying $10 a month to play the four-month game or spending $40 for the box version, EA collected little more than $600,000.

Shares of Redwood City, Calif.-based EA fell 24 cents to close at $62.10 on Nasdaq.