Facebook game FarmVille to shut down at the end of this year

One of the most famous games on Facebook FarmVille is soon to be closed after more than 11 years of launch. The online game is likely to close down in December this year.

FarmVille had more than 8- million players. The game involves running a farm, including tending to crops and raising animals as well as asking Facebook friends for help.

The maker of FarmVille Zynga has asked the players to spend remaining credits before the closure. They will be capable of availing in-app purchases until 17 November after which the payment system will be turned off.

On the other hand, other farming games such as FarmVille 2 and Tropic Escape will remain active and will not be affected.

Zynga thanked fans “an incredible 11 years” and explained that the closure of Adobe Flash Player was the reason.

“As previously stated, Adobe will stop distributing and updating Flash Player for all web browsers and Facebook will stop supporting Flash games on the platform completely after December 31, 2020,” it said.

“FarmVille will therefore be directly affected as a result of this.

“We are aware that many of you have been with us since the very beginning, helping to build an incredible global community of players over the years who’ve enjoyed this game just as much as we have.

“For that, we say thank you.”

Ampere Analysis games research director Piers Harding-Rolls said: “The game was synonymous with the explosion in social-network gaming in the late 2000s, primarily on Facebook.

“But that market was heavily disrupted by the mass adoption of smartphones and related app stores.

“And the social-network gaming market on PC shrunk significantly.

“The broader internet industry’s decision to turn a corner on Flash by the end of 2020 and the closure of FarmVille will not have a significant impact on Zynga’s bottom line.”