Glitch, the browser MMO returned to beta
If a video game is called back from launch to beta phase, it usually indicates a bad sign. This happened with Glitch, an MMO from Tiny Speck designed for browsers. Instead of battles, Glitch focused on crafting and gathering activities.
After Glitch was released in September 2011, it returned to beta status after just two months. Problems included a lack of accessibility for new players and insufficient gameplay depth for experienced gamers. Two core elements that one simply cannot do without. The game needed more time, which was too limited during development.
Then, in November 2012, the developers declared the end of Glitch. Too few players were one reason for the shutdown.
A real “problem” could not be identified with Glitch. Players complained about insufficient “fun” in the game but couldn’t define it precisely. The game’s developer, Stewart Butterfield, suspects that they failed to reach players due to the uniqueness of the title. “Many games fit directly into an already existing category,” he said in an interview with Gamasutra.
Yet Glitch did not fit into any box without combat and with its social activities.
In Glitch, there were no preset paths for players. The game did not guide its community by saying “Here is a quest, go there and collect many of these items” but rather showed more of a format that said: Look at all the beautiful things we have. How you get that, we won’t tell you.
Some players took this as an invitation to explore the world of Glitch. Others simply closed their browsers and ended the chapter for themselves. Ultimately, this led to so many players leaving that the audience became too small.
On page 5, it’s all about a complicated ups and downs with a hard ending for the community.
