Microsoft kills project Spark

by fenesiistvan on 5/14/2016, 7:01 AM with 24 comments
  • by nailer on 5/14/2016, 11:26 AM

    For anyone else: it was a game creation toolkit http://welcome.projectspark.com

    Go watch the first video - imagine UE4 or Unity but way easier. Everything from world building to AI. Would have been really cool for teenagers to make stuff with, as you can get good results really quickly. You don't even need a PC or a keyboard.

  • by tudorw on 5/14/2016, 2:51 PM

    should re-use the domain as Projects Park , a graveyard for some nice ideas, they could put their wi-fi mesh research in there too :(

  • by tamana on 5/14/2016, 3:47 PM

    And it's not open sourced, because they don't want to cannibalize their next idea.

    But it's not open sourced, so no one wants to take a risk on getting frozen out of their next failed idea.

  • by fixermark on 5/14/2016, 3:43 PM

    They were demo'ing this at E3 in 2013. Launched 2014.

    Total project public life: about 2 years.

    Oof. I feel bad for anyone whom invested heavily in that one.

  • by CM30 on 5/14/2016, 12:47 PM

    I'm more disappointed that by killing it, they've fully killed the one chance Conker had of getting a decent new game after Conker's Bad Fur Day on the Nintendo 64. Okay, they technically killed that late last year when Conker's Big Reunion was cancelled, but still. No more Project Spark = not even a chance of development resuming on it. It also means the fan project to recreate Pocket Tales in 3D in Project Spark looks to be dead too.

    No, Young Conker is not a good alternative. As the thousands of dislikes and hugely negative coverage proves.

    But yeah, it's a shame. Looked like a good engine for making games and game worlds, and possibly a good way for companies to bring back retro characters and franchises as part of episodic campaigns.

  • by nikolay on 5/14/2016, 4:42 PM

    My kids tried really hard to play it - it was super complicated and worst of all - way too slow! Otherwise, they kinda liked it.

  • by michaelbuddy on 5/15/2016, 1:41 AM

    Too bad. Maybe these types of projects need to contain a full great game along with the builder portion so more copies will get out there.

  • by mcphage on 5/14/2016, 1:32 PM

    Damn, I was hoping to try it at some point.

  • by cwyers on 5/14/2016, 6:13 PM

    I was wondering about this ever since MS bought Mojang, really.

  • by turnip1979 on 5/14/2016, 2:42 PM

    Yet another case that makes me wish consoles had no Internet connectivity.

  • by mlvljr on 5/14/2016, 7:15 PM

    Will be met and welcomed by XNA in the afterlife :)

  • by nthcolumn on 5/14/2016, 11:49 AM

    Shame. Maybe they will open source it so it can be ported to a less obscure platform.