In the beginning of the month, Cryptic announced that players would have the chance to purchase a lifetime subscription or six-month discounted subscription for Champions Online, both of which came with in-game items and access to the Star Trek Online beta. Well, even though the most recent news post regarding the promotion on the official Champions Online site says both offers are almost gone due to high demand, they have in fact sold out. And prospective players aren't too happy about it.

A post on the official forums announcing the discount subscriptions were almost gone turned into 68 pages of users complaining about the lack of communication regarding the status of the offer. Online Community Team member Draeke then started a new thread with Cryptic's explanation regarding the the discontinued offers. "First, we do sincerely apologize for the rather abrupt end to the promotional offers. It was never our intention to spring that news on our fans or anyone else. In short, we had an allotment of special subscription packages to sell over a fixed time (ending September 1). ... Frankly, we never suspected our special offers to be so popular," the post said.

The thread is currently at 104 pages right now if you're interested in reading through users' reactions to the statement. You can read the full response from Cryptic below.

We'd like to take a moment and hopefully clear up any confusion regarding our discounted Champions Online lifetime and six-month subscription offers...

First, we do sincerely apologize for the rather abrupt end to the promotional offers. It was never our intention to spring that news on our fans or anyone else. In short, we had an allotment of special subscription packages to sell over a fixed time (ending September 1). When we began approaching the offer cap before the date cap, we had to message. Frankly, we never suspected our special offers to be so popular.

While we did mention that supplies were limited in an announcement post, we definitely should have emphasized our limits more explicitly in all our messaging. Again, we just never expected supply to be any kind of an issue. The community response to our offers has been... amazing.

It’s hard for all of us here at Cryptic to see outcry in our communities. We work day and night to create the best gaming experiences we can and any missteps – big or small – on the long, winding, and sometimes treacherous path of development are always regrettable.

We do apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you and we do sincerely hope you understand and come play Champions Online with us this September.