Microsoft’s Project Sparkwill be shut down for good.
The company, along with developer Team Dakota is officially ending its user-creation tool for the Xbox One, both not allowing people to download it and not letting new users be created. As of August 12th, all online services—including those that allow users to share their creations—will be taken down.
“This was an extremely difficult decision for our team that we do not take lightly,” wrote Thomas Gratz, Project Sparkcommunity manager, in a post on the game’s forums. “When Project Spark transitioned away from active development last fall, many of our team members moved to other projects within Microsoft Studios. While this means there have been no layoffs at Microsoft, it also means it’s simply no longer feasible to continue the behind-the-scenes work involved with keeping Project Spark up and running with meaningful updates and bug fixes, so we have come to this hard decision.”
Project Spark was a game-creation program. It allowed both Xbox One and Windows users to make their own games and movies using other user-made content. The game launched into open beta in December 2013, and since then, has received 46 content packs and 16 updates.
Those who have purchased the retail version of the Project Spark Starter Kit will receive a credit on their Microsoft account. Those who had redeemed a code between October 5th, 2015 and before May 13th, 2016 will receive a different credit, usable on the Xbox or Windows store. Credit should be granted automatically.
“We can’t thank our creators and players enough,” Gratz concluded. “It’s been an incredible journey to share with you all.”