I wonder if there is the opportunity to have sponsors save the game somehow?
Too late. Most of the 115 people working for LU have cleared out their desks already. mederation is being run by a skeleton crew.
regardless of the profit margins, i think this was a bad move for lego. no one will be in a rush to try whatever they come up with next (as far as big online games go), because they killed of their first attempt so early.
if i had the time and money i'd buy LU, (free to play just wasn't enough for me to bother) and i'd be really PO'd if i found out they're shutting it down.
they're going to alienate customers. pity, seemed like a good game.
Good point. It would be very hard to trust in their "next big project"... I really want to know what it was that caused this... I really hope LEGO doesn't take this as a clue to stay out of online games, I thought the Building had a ton of potential, but no very many people used it due to the bugs and time it took. Now if they released a free, or even very minor subscription based thing, where you could load your LDD models online, and play in them with a minifigure, and share, I would so buy that.
I'd rather Lego just released LU open-source. It would make SO much more sense than a mere shutdown; if the fans really want to play LU, let them run it themselves. They certainly wouldn't lose any more money that way than they would by shutting it down entirely.
And, as much as I like your idea, I've lost most of my respect for Lego. I really thought Lego would pull through in the end, that it'd be a lifetime hobby that would serve as a unifying theme throughout my life. But now...I went to play with my MBA stuff, just to clear my head and try to enjoy something. Instead, I was totally uninspired, and I got a sick feeling in my stomach as I...stuck a bunch of plastic lumps together. Honestly, that's what it felt like I was doing; not "building." I had the urge to pull out my Bradford Rant Pod and look at it, and that actually sent me to the restroom for the better part of an hour. Maybe I'm still dealing with the shock and pain of the announcement, but Lego has become something totally foreign to me. Maybe I'll get that part of me back. Maybe not. But today I've lost the single most integral part of my existence since moving back to California from Japan. A part that, once again, formed my sole means of continual social interaction when I had to move again several months ago. A part of my identity--no, a HUGE part--has been stripped away, and I'm left feeling lifeless and purposeless. No matter all the opinions I express, and the ideas I put forth to try and change things, there is no escaping the awful truth. LU is gone, maybe not right this second, but it's no longer a part of the future, and without it, I have no clue where mine will lead. I have nothing. I
am nothing. I am now faced with a choice: reinvent myself, tearing away all that I once was and beginning anew in an uncertain new world, or cling to the old, and fade into oblivion and mediocrity with the swift passage of time.
And at this moment, I'm not sure which choice I'll take.