Scrolls – Mojang Is Shutting Down Development on Its Card Game Released in 2014
Mojang has announced unexpectedly that it will no longer develop its card game entitled Scrolls. The developer will still watch over the balance of gameplay, keeping the servers up and running for at least a year.
- Subject: Scrolls (Mojang’s card game from December 2014)
- What’s up: developer shuts down the game’s development
- Anything else?: developer will continue to keep an eye on the gameplay balance; the servers will run until at least July 1, 2016
- Cause: not specified, but without a doubt it’s the poor market performance of the title
Many players wondered what the takeover of Mojang by Microsoft would mean for the team’s projects other than Minecraft. Yesterday’s announcement seems to confirm the fears that there’s no bright future for these games, assuming they will still be developed. The developer informed that it shuts down the development of its card game entitled Scrolls, made available in the form of a paid beta in June 2013, and finished only a few months ago, in December 2014 – at least in versions for PC and mobile devices with Android, as the promised edition for iOS eventually never saw the light of day. The creators intend to continue to watch over the balance of gameplay in this production (and maybe improve it with some patches), but we can’t count on any more cards, modes, etc. Thus the post-launch life of Scrolls ends with only one extension released, namely Echoes which debuted in June.
As for the servers, Mojang promised that it will support them at least until July 1, 2016. This doesn’t necessarily mean that exactly on this day the game will “flatline”, but I won’t be surprised if soon after we will have to announce that the Scrolls’ servers are shutting down.
All right, but what exactly are the reasons behind this decision? The developer hasn’t commented on the matter, only stating that “the game has reached a point where it can no longer sustain continuous development.” It seems obvious though that Scrolls simply failed to pay for itself and suffered a great defeat in confronation with productions such as Hearthstone. It is hardly surprising, considering that the game from Mojang is paid, while its competitor from Blizzard can be enjoyed for free. Maybe a different developer wouldn’t give up the fight for its piece of the market just yet, but since Microsoft only cares about Minecraft, it is hard to expect any other solution than simply suspending works on a secondary, unprofitable project…
