LEGO Universe to close

NewsPosted 07/11/2011 - 9:37am GMT

115 jobs lost

LEGO has plans to close down its LEGO Universe MMO come January due to a lack of subscribers, reports GamesIndustry.biz.

Initially released in 2010, the game went free-to-play in order to stir further sales.

According to VP of LEGO Universe Jesper Vilstrup, the game currently has nearly two million players however this alone is not enough to keep the game running: "...we get extremely positive feedback from players. Unfortunately, we have not been able to build a satisfactory revenue model in our target group, and therefore, have decided to close the game."

115 employees from LEGO's Play Well Studios and marketing team are said to be let go.

VideoGamer.com Analysis

In this market it's rare to see a game that has embraced the free-to-play model go under. We recently saw the success DC Universe Online has had after going F2P, with its influx of over 100,000 new users. It's important to note that LEGO Universe never went completely free-to-play, however, as its F2P-mode functioned largely as a demo of the game.

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MJTH

I, unfortunately, saw this coming from the start. This was an incredibly good idea on paper, but the fact is they aimed the game at a market of young children (7-13), but didn't realise that they wouldn't be the ones paying for them, the parents would and obviously the parents don't like this kind of investment.

Posted 12:25 on 07 November 2011