Lego Universe shutting down in January

Last year, Gazillion sold its just-launched massively multiplayer online game Lego Universe to The Lego Group, predicting a "bright future" for the title at the time. That future was instead brief, as The Lego Group is pulling the plug on the game.

The Danish building-block company announced today that it will be shuttering the MMOG on January 31, 2012. Lego Universe vice president Jesper Vilstrup addressed the decision to close the game, saying that although it has a healthy user base of 2 million players, the company simply has not been able to set up a satisfactory revenue model for its target user group. Specifically, getting gamers to make the leap from the title's free-play zone and into content reserved for paying subscribers proved difficult.

Colorado-based Play Well Studios, along with Lego Universe's marketing division located in Denmark, will be casualties of this closure. A total of 115 positions will be affected.

The Lego Group said it looks forward to future projects in the digital space. Collaborations with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment for future Lego-related titles remain unaffected. WBIE subsidiary TT Games' Lego Harry Potter: Years 5 - 7 launches next week, and the studio is currently working on Lego City Stories for the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.