Can PC gamers handle innovation - Dec. 19, 2001

"Majestic drew such an anemic audience that Electronic Arts abandoned the story half-way through. Of the 800,000 people who started to register for the free, first installment of the game, only 71,200 completed the process. That number fell to 10,000 to 15,000 subscribers when it came time to pay. It was a grand experiment, but one that ultimately cost EA between $5 million and $7 million. EA expects to shut the game down completely by the middle of next year."

Now as that mysterious cabal known as the Cloudmakers might tell you, Majestic is a mere shadow of the origonal and greatest conspiracy game, The Beast

http://www.time.com/time/bestworst2001/tv.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/09/magazine/09GAME.html

Thanks to Jettjag and Loxser John for the links.