Blaseball is dead: "The cost, literally and metaphorically, is too high"

gamesradar.com:

Baseball, the unhinged sports simulation, is shutting down as developer The Game Band says it can no longer afford to keep the game running.

"The short of it is that Blaseball isn’t sustainable to run," the developers say in a blog post. "Since Blaseball’s inception, we’ve been fighting against the amount of work it takes to keep Blaseball true to itself while financially supporting the team and keeping our staff healthy. We’ve tried countless solutions to make it work, and we’ve come to the conclusion that this fight isn’t one we can win in the long run. The cost, literally and metaphorically, is too high."

Layoffs will follow, but the blog doesn't detail how many developers will be affected. The Game Band says it will support those laid off with "severance, healthcare extensions, and job search resources with a dedicated staff member for job placement." The studio is putting out an open call on social media to find open positions for its workers.

If you're not familiar with Blaseball, it is (or rather, was) a game that takes place on a website that looks like a pretty standard baseball stat-tracking page. You picked a favorite team from a list of fictional ball clubs with names like 'Kansas City Breath Mints,' then bet on games with fake money, and spent resources to vote for rule changes across the league between seasons.

But those simple statistics gave way to some very strange stories. Weather effects like 'birds' or 'jazz' could have ridiculous effects on the games. Players could die and be resurrected, returning to play as undead entities. There was a fight against a peanut god early on. A robust fandom ensued, with enthusiasts drawing fan art and creating elaborate backstories for players that became their own