Hello Adventurer, today we are very sad to announce that LEGO Universe will be closing on Janurary 31, 2012. This was a very difficult decision to make, but unfortunately LEGO Universe has not been able to attract the number of members needed to keep the game open.
We are thankful to have had the opportunity to share this adventure wiith an amazing community of players. We hope you will continue to enjoy LEGO Universe for the last few months. As a thank you, if you are a paying subscriber on December 31, 2011, we will provide you the full game for the final month for free.
Again, we want to thank the fantastic community of players who made LEGO Universe such a vibrant, fun and creative experience.
Sincerely,
The LEGO Universe Team
In a post on the Lego Universe forums today, LEGO group announced that the game will be shutting down on January 31st, 2012. The move comes in response to lackluster reception of the title, with the building MMO not attaining enough paying customers to warrant continued operations. Even worse, the closure comes with two studios shutting down at LEGO group, affecting over one hundred employees.
In spite of very positive player feedback and a large number of players in the free play zone, it has not been possible to convert a satisfactory number of players to paying subscribers. It has therefore been decided to close the game as of January 31, 2012.
I’d like to channel Stephen Calender from our interview a few months back, on the difficulty of selling a children’s game.
You know, it is an incredibly difficult thing to sell a kids game, because while your audience is children (or children at heart perhaps) the parents are the ones holding the purse strings. I’m sure that I wasn’t the only one to notice that LEGO’s price point has gradually decreased over the last couple months. LEGO was definitely testing the waters price point wise, they certainly have the resources to be patient, pricing is kind of a one way street, you typically only move down until you meet demand, its a common thing. It’s not like we were not aware of our competition in that space (Toontown, Wizard101, Free Realms, etc), which have free to play options. It is just your typical post launch move to extend your games reach and create more opportunities to grab and convert users into subscribers, the only real decision was probably when in the pipeline they were comfortable making it.
Lego Universe shutting down is particularly disappointing, because it’s an IP that many of us hold rather close to heart. Do you think some other MMO developers can head over to LEGO Group and go on a hiring spree? Please?
MMO Fallout 
I sure hope you are willing to make the server files available to people who wish to run a private server in their home for their children to play. I understand you cannot allow internet based servers, but there should be a way to play on a LAN. Please, for those of us who bought the game. I have a son with Autism, and I am very concerned about how this shut down will affect him!