It is now official

[legodac]

Well my friends, seems Lego has gone out of it's way to let us know that LU is officially closed with a very nice video, here is the link...

http://universe.lego.com/en-us/default.aspx

I don't mind so much, however when Lego says they are closing something, they do go all the way.

Laugh if you will, I still play MLN and it seems that the LU modules there are no longer accessible when it comes to posting a comment on another's creation.

Something I have believed in for a while, is now gone, oh well.

What are your thoughts Brickers

[Piranha]

Wow they did go all out on that video, I assume to prevent further back lash from angry fans.

[legodac]

Wow they did go all out on that video, I assume to prevent further back lash from angry fans.

A unique perspective, those were my thoughts at first as well. I never played myself but I heard that it wasn't cheap.

[just2good]

R.I.P. LEGO Universe.

The video was extremely well made and documented.

Edited February 1, 2012 by just2good

[legodac]

Perhaps they should have shown that video before they launched the game, they may have had more en-listing.

[Piranha]

I actually think they messed up from the start, countless delays that added up to almost 2 years when combined, having to purchase a $50 CD then a monthly subscription thereafter to a consumer base not used to subscription based games. Not having a free to play from the start, not making sets, etc the list goes on and on. The last ditch efforts to save it by lowering the price and free to play by then it was already too late I think.

A shame really I did like a lot of the concepts featured in the game.

Edited February 1, 2012 by Macoco

[Arigomi]

The MMO market is the toughest sector of the videogame industry to break into. It takes a lot of foresight to stay competitive in this space.

LEGO Universe's main problem came from mimicking World of Warcraft's business model (a game intended for teens and older). LEGO Universe was always intended to be for players 10 years or older. Young kids can't afford subscription fees. That demographic is best served by the free-to-play business model. Free-to-play games only work if they are designed that way from the ground up.

[legodac]

Lego didn't drop the ball where it comes to game play design, they dropped it when it comes to patience. They gave up to easily and didn't recognize the fact that it may take a little time to convince the parents to fork out a little more money so they won't have to to listen to us. Face it, the ones who have means can afford Lego, and the ones who have more means, could afford Lego Universe

[ACWWgal2011]

At first i really didn't think much about it but then I began doing research. After a lot of research I found out about how many people loved the game and after i really thought about how I really love bringing one of my favorite minifigures to "life" online, i realized just how much it meant to me and others.

The one thing that bothers me the most is not that it shut down but WHY. I've found 3 articles to date that all say the same thing. Lego Universe was shut down due to lack of earnings from the TARGET GROUP. That is a major league insult to the adults and teens that love(d) the game. It's like lego is trying to tell AFOLs and TFOLs that their money means NOTHING to the company.

I'll be honest on something. After that finding I now know without a doubt that the ONLY major reason I, an EX-AFFOL, am still doing buisness with the lego company is due to the fact I love lego minifigures. How can lego just flush a wonderful, creative, nearly perfect Universe just because ONE "target group" isn't pulling in enough money?????

[Blondie-Wan]

It is very sad, yes. I'm personally frustrated because I preordered the game and had it in my hands from the beginning, but was unable to play for a long time because of computer issues, and I never did quite resolve them (I still don't actually have a computer of my own that can run it; I've been playing it on my girlfriend's computer while hoping to get a newer computer of my own, but never managed to). I've therefore gotten not really very many hours of play at all, but I was looking forward to spending a lot more time with it once I was able to. I also know it's a huge disappointment for TLG - just the time and money invested alone are quite substantial, and I'm sure plenty of people at the company also had a strong emotional connection to it. It's really sad that such a clever, imaginative game drawing upon the joys of actual LEGO building never was able to attract enough people.

I actually think they messed up from the start, countless delays that added up to almost 2 years when combined, having to purchase a $50 CD then a monthly subscription thereafter to a consumer base not used to subscription based games. Not having a free to play from the start, not making sets, etc the list goes on and on. The last ditch efforts to save it by lowering the price and free to play by then it was already too late I think.

A shame really I did like a lot of the concepts featured in the game.

Countless delays that last multiple years are nothing new in the videogame industry, and there are numerous other games using the subscription model; it's simply a very tough one to pull off, and lots of other MMOGs have folded, while a select few live long and prosper, as they say on Star Trek.

Most other games, even successful ones, do lower their prices eventually; I think the game disc was always going to drop in price after a while, regardless of how successful it was. But adding Free to Play was a good move, though also a bit late, as you note. However, the real problem appears to be that they simply didn't entice enough people to become paying players. Free to Play was presumably hoped to entice people to join, and it simply didn't entice nearly enough people. Alas.

At first i really didn't think much about it but then I began doing research. After a lot of research I found out about how many people loved the game and after i really thought about how I really love bringing one of my favorite minifigures to "life" online, i realized just how much it meant to me and others.

The one thing that bothers me the most is not that it shut down but WHY. I've found 3 articles to date that all say the same thing. Lego Universe was shut down due to lack of earnings from the TARGET GROUP. That is a major league insult to the adults and teens that love(d) the game. It's like lego is trying to tell AFOLs and TFOLs that their money means NOTHING to the company.

I don't think they meant it that way at all. I think what they mean is that they needed a certain number of people to become paying customers in order for it to remain viable, and they undoubtedly had demographic projections of what age ranges and so forth would contribute in what numbers, and presumably they hit their targets for other groups (AFOLs, adult gamers, etc.), but just didn't get nearly as many kids to join as they had hoped and expected, and since kids were the primary target that meant they didn't get nearly enough people paying for it in general. I don't think it means they'd have shut it down if they'd gotten tens of millions of adults but no kids; they just closed it because it simply didn't get enough players in general, period, and that that's specifically because far fewer kids signed up for it than anticipated / hoped.