Well, it was fun while it lasted. If you're looking to flex your creative muscles and possibly trying out some game creation, you're going to have to look somewhere other than Microsoftat least, if you're in that gray area between 'have no idea what you're doing" and "planning to develop and sell games for real." The company has officially cancelled its Project Spark half-game, half-platform, which allowed buyers to create their own little games within one big sandbox.

"This was an extremely difficult decision for our team that we do not take lightly. 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," reads a blog post from Microsoft yesterday.

Microsoft is officially pulling the plug on Project Spark on August 12. After that date, the company notes that the game's online services will no longer be available. And, as a result, those who already own Project Spark will be unable to to both upload their own content and download anybody else's. You'll still be able to play anything you've already downloaded offline, but should you ever delete it (or should your Xbox or PC up and die), you won't have any way to reacquire the mini-games.

"Despite this news, we want to celebrate the accomplishments of our team and community of creators and players. Our team released 46 content packs, thousands of assets and 16 updates since launch (averaging more than one update every two months). We produced hundreds of livestreams and videos to educate and celebrate our community. In turn, our passionate fans have then gone above and beyond supporting 'Project Spark' by uploading hundreds of thousands of creations and dreaming up millions of objects, behaviors, and experiences. Outside the game, they created fan sites, tutorials, forums, apps, and more! We thank everyone who has played or created anything within 'Project Spark,' as it would have never existed without you," Microsoft notes.

Microsoft is also offering a bit of a gift to those who recently purchased Project Spark since, you know, you won't really be able to do much with it in a few months. Anyone who bought the (sort-of) game and redeemed the Project Spark Starter Kit code after October 5 of last year will receive an automatic credit that they can use on either the Xbox or Microsoft store. (Those who purchased it between June 28 and October 5 should have already received a credit from Microsoft.)

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