Minecraft developer Mojang has announced that Scrolls, its card-strategy game hybrid, has ceased development, with the content update “Echoes” serving as the last introduction of new features for the game. Echoes added custom matches, the ability to watch replays, new pre-constructed decks, and much more when it launched back on June 9.
The studio promises to “keep a close eye on game balance” following the patch, and the servers will be kept operational until July 1st, 2016: a year from tomorrow. The game is still available to purchase, and sales will “go towards keeping Scrolls playable for as long as possible,” perhaps past its scheduled end date.
While information vague about the exact reason for the decision to end development of Scrolls, the the announcement states that “the game has reached a point where it can no longer sustain continuous development.”
Oddly, just days before Mojang announced the end of Scrolls, the company announced plans to attend this year’s Minecon on July 4 and 5. The planned schedule for the event includes a Scrolls tournament with commentary from former pro player Blinky.
Due to Minecraft‘s continuous success, as well as Mojang’s recent acquisition by Microsoft, this could be an attempt by the company to consolidate Mojang’s resources into its flagship product. Microsoft’s large studios tend to focus on just one franchise — Halo for 343 Industries, Gears of War for the newly-formed The Coalition, Forza for Turn Ten, and Fable for Lionhead.
Aside from Minecraft, the only other game Mojang now has in development is the action-platformer Cobalt, which the studio is making in collaboration with fellow Swedish developer Oxeye Game Studio. It’s currently in alpha stage for PC and Mac, and Xbox 360 and Xbox One versions of the game are also in the works, although there is currently no release window.
