Gamemaker PopCap has made a decision to alienate some 15,000 of its most loyal gamers by shutting down its long-running online multiplayer games Lucky Penny, Psychobabble, and Atomic Poker next week. The reason? The games don’t bring in enough revenue, and since the multiplayer games involve chat-board communities, they’re difficult to moderate for foul or obscene language.
Psychobabble is a word-scramble game, while Atomic Poker and Lucky Penny (called “Piggy Poker” by fans) are variations on card games, although they aren’t played for real money. And fans are upset: many have been playing these games for years, struck up strong friendships with fellow players, and represent some of PopCap’s longest-standing customers—and the nature of the games means they tend to skew towards older, more-reliable types, making one wonder why PopCap didn’t consider converting the games to a fee-based membership, much as it does with its online games Bejeweled and Chuzzle.
PopCap’s concerns are partly financial, and the company didn’t see a profitable way to convert the games to a new platform or offload them to another company without draining revenue further. The company may also be concerned about legal liability from minors participating in the unmoderated forums.
Fans have launched an online petition to save the games, but you know how those things usually turn out. Maybe PopCap had better hope none of these alienated players convert over to first-person shooters and decide to express their frustration using new-found gaming skills.
Norway calling !
Why couldn't they just make some sort of report-system by letting the players “click” the name of those that didn't behave. If a player got more than a certain amounts of “click”, they could be banned from PopCap, or something like that.
I MISS “LUCKY PENNY” & “PSYCHOBABBLE” SOOOOOOO MUCH !!!!
still waiting for atomic poker, you could sell it pogo or other gamesites that would make then alot of money
Roxie, this is Big DaveI lost your e-mail and i had to change me email todaskez@gmail.complease respondCathycalled and said you were concerned but she didn't leave your email or a tel #
Hi, I too was a devoted member of Lucky Penny (piggy ) & sent several e.mails to Popcap about the closure of Piggy.Now , even after all this time I STILL miss the little blighter.I live in England & made numerous friends through Piggy.I exchanged postcards with over 80 piggy pals from all over the U.S.Now all these friends have been lost in cyber space having gone to other sites somewhere. I have searched & searched but have been unable to find another poker game as good as Piggy. Why oh why couldn't popcap just sell the game on to someone else who took the feelings of their devoted & dedicated players into consideration.(Unlike Popcap) who just threw us by the wayside. Friends from Piggy ……if you find this , know I often think of you & the fun & laughter we had in TOPICA. I miss you all so much.Think of DEM & you will know who I am….
Ap has been one of my bested game ever, even though there were jerks on the server, there were some pretty cool people, and Fred Fianlly apologies after the ap shutted down so I do give thanks to that, but it would be cool if we recieved an email saying they got new multiplater, I've check time to time but it more like buying etc and hard to tell what multiplayer they have now, I doubt they still run a multiplater game anymore sense they got a new system.
it would be cool if they would put something up, so tell me where are you all at? bigfish.com? or slingo? :D
Im so sad too that atomic poker disapeared without any other explanation.
They didnt even give teh code so others could use it to bring it up back.
Really bad decision popcap, you had a responsability towards all the players.
Dreamer
hey people!! where is atomic poker?
where are all the people >>????
Netherlands
yo people… where is atomic poker????
where are all the people???
Netherlands
I was hoping to reconnect with some very special people who helped me through breast cancer a couple of years ago. Much to my dismay, I could no longer find Piggy Poker! But I found this site and then was really disappointed when I realized that piggy poker was no longer in existence. I'll agree with the comments above in regards to finding solace, laughter, friendship and fantastic support in the chat room. It really was a lifesaver for me when I needed it most. Met some great people, shared our stories and had lots of friends rooting for me as I went through surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. I'll check out the ionthunder site and hope to find some of those wonderful people. You have done a great diservice to customers Popcap….
Shocking, Just Shocking, Get Psychobabble back online, Popcap what are u all about doing this to people? As others have stated it was the best game ever for lifting our spirits when things in life got bad..Pleeeeeaze,, get a life, give us back the fun of Psychobabble
Hey folk's this is my other user that I had for a long time so many of u dont know my name is Tommy not Timothy, well there a site that called http://www.arcadebliss.com and it a game where u can chat to people who u want to chat too and u can create your own room but it only for 30 min before they take it off then you have to create your own room, im still trying to get the slingo games to work on my pc but still having problem, so hopefully I can try to figure out what the problem, or hopefully I will get to hear one of you all that use to play atomic poker and lucky penny, so if popcap decide to have there multiplayer game set back up and other thing like that I hope I get an email or hopefully Popcap will mention it.. well have a great and wonderful year and Happy Late GrandParent Day September 10th 2006 – through the years.
Hi, My name is Tommy, and I was wanting to tell the Popcap Member hi, that I miss talking to them and hopefully, Popcap or slingo will allow Atomic Poker back or least a Game I can play so I can talk to you all folk's well have a wonderful day, and don't let anyone get in your way
I love Atomic Poker and Lucky Penny and am therefore emailing Popcap DAILY requesting these games be put back, as they do NOT need upgrading, being perfect already. I asked POPCAP to serve a higher principle, rather than money and I have also signed the online petition and volunteered to be a mod. I hope that they will have the courage and good sense to change their heart and realize that those games have been their flagships of excellence and need to be put back. I have played Atomic Poker for over 5 years and was in the top 100. Thank you for your article. It is another sad commentary of how those in power make inconsiderate and heartless decisions, ignoring and discounting longtime faithful people…just because they can…
It is quite a blow to see something of real value to people just disappear with so little fanfare or reason. I wish popcap would reconsider. I will miss the PEOPLE who play psychobabble and I hope I meet up with them somewhere. I am sad about this.
Well, as many of you may or may not know, I've been playing both Psycho Babble and Atomic Poker off and on for the last four or so years. I'm appalled at the lack of interest in so many people's opinions by PopCap.
It's not so much that it surprises me, by no means. But like so many others' comments that I have read here, I've made lifelong friendships here. Thankfully, those friendships will continue, and unfortunately for PopCap, they will continue elsewhere.
This decision came as a surprise to all of us, no doubt. I know that myself, in addition to many others, will NEVER again grant PopCap our business.
I came to PsychoBabble about four years ago, at the invitation of a friend. That friendship blossomed into a relationship of almost four years and even though it didn't move into the next step of relationships, I made a friend that I know will always stand by me. And she's not the only one, by any stretch of the imagination.
Good luck, PopCap. I hope you realize just how much you've screwed yourself by your decision and HOLLLOW apologies, in addition to your LAME excuses for cancelling the games.
Paul, AKA IamWeeToddEd