It’s always sad to hear that a studio is shutting down; this means people are losing jobs, there is one less franchise out there to sate our appetites, among many other negative effects that happen behind the scenes that we will never even understand how it affects us. Today the LEGO Group has announced that after a little over one year, they plan on shutting down the LEGO MMO.
“In spite of very positive player feedback and a large number of players in the free play zone, it has not been possible to convert a satisfactory number of players to paying subscribers. It has therefore been decided to close the game as of January 31, 2012.”
Even though the game had well over 2 million subscribers, very few were actually paying customers. When it originally launched, LEGO Universe was a subscription-based title and decided to take on the free-to-play model in an attempt to increase revenue.
The studio responsible for running LEGO Universe, Play Well Studios, in Lousville, Colorado, as well as the LEGO Universe marketing function in Billund, Denmark will also close their doors due to the decision to close the game. The closures will affect 115 employees total, as well as the many players of the MMO. Our hearts and thoughts go out to those 115 employees, as we say goodbye to the franchise.
