Tech giant Microsoft announced on Friday, May 13 that its 'Project Spark' game and creativity engine will cease to become free. Microsoft added that the option to download the game on its store sites has been removed. Those who own a copy of the game have until Aug. 12 to access it before the content servers are shut down.

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In a statement, Microsoft said, "This was an extremely difficult decision for our team that we do not take lightly. When 'Project Spark' transitioned away from active development last fall, many of our team members moved to other projects within Microsoft Studios."

Microsoft reiterated that no member of the team that worked on 'Project Spark' will be laid off. The tech giant explained that the project is no longer feasible, and that running the game, along with constantly releasing updates and bug fixes is no longer sustainable, hence the decision to discontinue the project.

Microsoft will officially shut down 'Project Spark' servers on Aug. 12. After that date, Microsoft said that the game's online services will be no longer available. This means that players will no longer be able to upload their own content or download content created by other players.

However, gamers can still play 'Project Spark' in offline mode. All the content that are downloaded offline before the servers are shut down will still be playable.

For those who only purchased 'Project Spark' recently, Microsoft is offering a bit of compensation. The company said that anyone who bought a copy of the game and redeemed the Project Spark Starter Kit code after Oct. 5, 2015 will receive an automatic credit which they can then use on either Microsoft or Xbox stores. Microsoft revealed that those who have purchased the game between June 28 and Oct. 5 last year have already received their appropriate credits from the company.

TagsProject Spark, Project Spark news, Project Spark shut down, Project Spark update, Microsoft, Microsoft news, Microsoft Project Spark