Online gaming platform Black Crown to shut down

30 October 2014 Books+Publishing

In the UK, Penguin Random House (PRH) is shutting down the online narrative gaming platform Black Crown due to a lack of revenue, reports the Bookseller. Black Crown is based on a story written by Rob Sherman, who is currently the British Library’s interactive fiction writer in residence. In the three months since it launched in May 2013, 6000 people have signed up to play the game and around 5% of players have purchased in-game currency. In a blog post, Sherman said he was ‘saddened’ by the closure, but had been fully consulted on the decision to shut it down and conceded that ‘the economics do not stand up’. Developer Failbetter Games said it couldn’t continue to maintain the game as its unique programming required a lot of maintenance and it didn’t produce much revenue. PRH digital publisher Dan Franklin said the game was an ‘experiment’ and is thinking about repurposing some of the content. ‘We have seen it as a piece of IP that could live somewhere else,’ he said.

Category: International news