Layoffs at Tiny Speck as MMO Glitch closes

Vancouver and San Francisco-based studio Tiny Speck has laid off a number of staff after closing its social MMO Glitch.

The tech start-up, which was founded in 2009, said it had decided to cancel the game after failing to attract a sufficient userbase “large enough to sustain itself”.

In a statement, the firm blamed industry trends such as the movement towards mobile platforms and the decline in the use of Flash, which Glitch was developed on, for the game’s closure.

The game will officially be closed on December 9th at 8pm Pacific Time, and Tiny Speck has said it will refund all purchases made since November 1st 2011.

It is unclear how many developers have been let go, although the company has said it will remain open but will be focusing on its own messaging technology, with a smaller dev team working on new products.

“For many of us at Tiny Speck, the creation of something like Glitch was a long-held dream,” read a statement from the studio.

“There’s no better word than ‘heartbreaking’ to describe what it feels like to have to do this. And we know that for many of you who poured your creativity, energy and imagination into Glitch and the community, it will be heartbreaking as well. We are sorry to have let you down.”