It can’t be easy being the developers behind Minecraft. Mojang did try to move on and the first game out in their post-Minecraft era was Scrolls, a card combat game. Similar to Minecraft, Scrolls was put out in beta way back in the summer of 2013 and didn’t see a full release until just last December. Despite only a six month shelf life Mojang has decided that they will no longer be actively updating or adding new content to Scrolls. They gave little reason saying only “the game has reached a point where it can no longer sustain continuous development”, which I can only take to mean they expected it to make more money. Mojang said the latest “Echoes” update would be their last one. Mojang also confirmed that any revenue from the game would be put towards keeping the Scrolls servers online which, for now, will run until July 2016.
I can’t imagine what went so wrong so quickly that Mojang would simply stop the presses on Scrolls. I’d have to speculate that perhaps Microsoft is shifting the developer’s focus onto new titles or Minecraft updates but it seems weird to release a statement like this. Also seems strange to specifically state revenue from the game will keep it alive, almost indirectly encouraging fans to give Mojang money if they want to keep playing a dying game. Personally I’ve thought Mojang has always had a weird relationship and attitude towards their fans, especially when Notch still worked at the company. Sometimes their updates, while frequent and filled with content, would feel as if development wandered a bit and lacked focus. Then again I’m speculating off of Minecraft updates from years ago.
You can read Mojang’s official blog announcement about Scrolls right here.
