The LEGO franchise has been staggeringly successful over the years. It seems that there have been millions of different playsets released for every conceivable genre and there's the raft of popular video games based upon IPs such as Star Wars. There has been one area that's proven problematic for LEGO, and that is the realm of mmo games. Their LEGO Universe mmo lasted only a couple of years, and they're now changing the revenue format for LEGO Minifigures Online. While the game had originally been free-to-play, that model is being changed to buy-to-play later this summer.
Released on October 29, 2014, the last playable day for Lego Minifigures Online will be September 30, and new players can no longer access the game.
Funcom, the Oslo-based MMO developer of The Secret World and most recently, the commercially flailing Lego Minifigures Online, has confirmed that it is "actively seeking interested parties for discussions surrounding a possible investment, acquisition, merger, or any other available options."
Originally launched last year as a free-to-play PC MMO, Lego Minifigures Online didn't perform anywhere near internal projections in relation to the game's target audience. Feeling that the monetization model made the game less fun (which should come as no great surprise), Funcom proceeded to overhaul the game and re-release it in June in a premium format though sadly, it failed to fare any better as a result.
That's a shame. Talented guys that unfortunately always had ideas bigger than their budgets. Hopefully they find a good buyer.
Not sure many companies will be willing to buyout a company who was suspected of fraud. I think if it comes to it someone will buy the Secret World IP, shut the game down but instead develop a single player story driven action game.
NGB Wrote: "LMO should be a fun introduction to dungeon crawlers for a younger audiences. The decision to move from a Free To Play model should make investing in a more complete package more appealing, but the price point may be a bit steep for some parents, along with annoying collision issues that are present throughout."
