The Game Band, developers of the erratic sports simulation Baseball, have announced the game’s shutdown.
The developers admit in a blog post, “The except it is that Blaseball isn’t sustainable to run.” Since Blaseball’s inception, we’ve fought against the time and effort needed to maintain the game’s unique character, as well as the demands of running a sustainable business and taking care of our employees’ physical well-being. We’ve exhausted all possible avenues for success, and we now know we can’t ultimately triumph in this struggle. It’s too pricey, both literally and figuratively.
Following this, layoffs will occur, however the number of designers affected is not specified on the blog. A dedicated team member will help employees who have been laid off find new work, and the company promises severance pay and health care benefits. The production company is actively seeking new talent through social networking sites.
If you’re unfamiliar with Blaseball, it’s a video game that takes place on a website designed to look like an elegantly simple baseball stat-tracking page. You got to pick a favourite team from a roster of made-up baseball clubs with names like “Kansas City Breath Mints,” wager on games using made-up money, and even put money towards voting on league-wide rule changes in the offseason.
Some truly bizarre tales were given structure by those fundamental facts. Changes in the weather, such as a ‘birds’ or ‘jazz’ storm, could have wacky effects on the games. Players can die in-game and be brought back to life as undead ghouls or skeletons. An early conflict included a peanut deity. Fans grew so invested in the Blaseball Wiki that they created their own canon, complete with fan art and detailed character histories. Using Twitch, gamers have created their own news networks covering the industry and provided live commentary in the style of sports broadcasts.
“To Blaseball Fans, who genuinely rejoiced and wept with us, who witnessed Suns pass away and Eras pass, who defied the Gods and death itself, who were with us through the end of the world as we knew it and what came after: thank you. Making Blaseball for you has been one of our greatest joys, and we will mourn its passing as we would any other shared experience.
The newest (and final) baseball season began earlier this year and was intended as a fresh start for fans of the sport.
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In May of 2022, Dustin Bailey located in Missouri signed on as a Staff Writer for the GamesRadar team. Since 2015, first as a freelancer and subsequently as a news author at PCGamesN, he has covered video games (with occasional dalliances worldwides of anime and professional fumbling). His interest in video games was first sparked by a crossover between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and he now divides his free time between playing classic games, the latest blockbuster action/adventure game, and American Truck Simulator.
