LEGO Universe Shutting Down In 2012

LEGO Universe will be joining the likes of Tabula Rasa and The Matrix Online in the MMO graveyard. Today LEGO Group announced that they'll be closing the game down next year due to insufficient subscribers.

"The LEGO Universe team can take pride in having developed and launched a great LEGO experience that many players will miss," said Jesper Vilstrup, Vice President of LEGO Universe. "Right now, we have almost 2 million players in LEGO Universe, and 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."

The LEGO Group was careful to point out that they haven't abandoned the gaming market. They'll continue to work with TT Games (developer of the Lego Star Wars video games, among others) and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (publisher of Universe) on new projects.

"The development of our digital offerings continues to be a very important element in our strategy," said Mads Nipper, executive vice president for the LEGO Group. "We have more than 20 million visitors on www.LEGO.com every month, and LEGO video games are among the bestselling children's video games with sales of more than 60 million units in the last five years. Through our experience developing and running LEGO Universe, we have gained a lot of valuable insights, and we have a very strong foundation for future development in the digital area."

The shut-down of Universe will result in some layoffs as well. Play Well Studios in Colorado and the game's marketing office in Denmark will both be closed. The LEGO Group says they'll help employees at both locations find new work.

If you're still a paying subscriber on December 31st, you'll have access to the full game for the month of January for no charge.