After just over a year of operation, quirky browser-based MMO
Glitch is to close in December.
"Unfortunately,
Glitch has not attracted an audience large enough to sustain itself," its dev team wrote in a farewell message. "Based on a long period of experimentation and our best estimates it seems unlikely that it ever would."
The game will go offline on December 9th.
Game-breaking glitchGlitch was a creative and imaginative little game, which encouraged kind-hearted co-operation between players. It was also filled to bursting with charming ideas and content.
The game came from Tiny Speck - a studio founded by Flickr co-founder Stewart Butterfield.
The studio attracted top talent like Keita Takahashi (the Japanese mastermind behind
Katamari Damacy and
Noby Noby Boy), and
Journey producer Robin Hunicke.
End of the lineAny
Glitch users who recently bought the freemium game's premium currency will be able to get their money back.
"Automatic refunds for recent purchases will begin immediately," the Tiny Speck team states. "Refunds for older transactions will need to be done manually and will be processed as quickly as possible, from most recent to oldest."
The shutting down of
Glitch will not mean the end for Tiny Speck, but it will result in about
30 staffers being laid off.
This follows news that Ubisoft is
canning Facebook game Ghost Recon: Commander, and that Zynga is to close
13 older social games.
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