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Microsoft and Team Dakota have announced that Project Spark will be shut down later this year.
The creative title is now longer available to download for either Xbox or PC. Online services for existing owners will be shut down in August, after which time user created content will no longer be downloadable or uploadable.
Refunds are also being processed for those who redeemed any codes from the boxed retail version of the title.
This was an extremely difficult decision for our team that we do not take lightly,” community manager Thomas Gratz said. When Project Spark transitioned away from active development last fall, many of our team members moved to other projects within Microsoft Studios.
"While this means there have been no layoffs at Microsoft, it also means it’s simply no longer feasible to continue the behind-the-scenes work involved with keeping Project Spark up and running with meaningful updates and bug fixes, so we have come to this hard decision.
Despite this news, we want to celebrate the accomplishments of our team and community of creators and players. Our team released 46 content packs, thousands of assets and 16 updates since launch (averaging more than one update every two months). We produced hundreds of livestreams and videos to educate and celebrate our community.
In turn, our passionate fans have then gone above and beyond supporting Project Spark by uploading hundreds of thousands of creations and dreaming up millions of objects, behaviours, and experiences. Outside the game, they created fan sites, tutorials, forums, apps, and more.”
Microsoft dropped all charges associated with the game last autumn.
