The other aforemention titles will also be getting the axe, along with EA Sports titles NFL Madden Superstars, and NHL Superstars. The explanation offered by community representative, Bevypoo, is "so we can reallocate development resources to other titles that we hope you’ll have just as much fun playing"
Playfish has also reminded players to spend their virtual currency before the end date, as it will disappear along with the game. And no, you cant get a refund.
It is sad to see Simcity Social shut down after barely a year of life. It possessed a great variety in buildings and quality artwork, for a facebook game, and although the game mechanics were quite simple, and there wasnt a huge amount of depth in the gameplay, it was updated regularly with new challenges and content. Despite that, it doesn't seem to have rung true with users. The monthly active user figures (MAU) have plummeted from a high of 15.3 million MAU in August 2012, to a relatively paltry 1.6 million MAU in March 2013. While 1.6 million MAU would be a figure that some smaller facebook developers could only dream of obtaining, for a gaming powerhouse like EA, it is probably well below their targets, and so instead of trying to salvage it, they're pulling the plug.
With Zynga's shutdown of titles in their stables in the last few months, perhaps this is signalling a change in the casual gaming market? Now that the novelty factor has worn off of this sort of gaming, perhaps we're seeing people less willing to spend time, and money, on these games? Time will tell.
0 comments:
Post a Comment