Truly this news marks the end of an era. Zynga originally announced at the beginning of September that the web-based version of FarmVille, still playable exclusively on Facebook, would be coming to a close on December 31st with the demise of Adobe’s Flash Player for browsers. At the time Zynga stated they were looking into alternatives to keep the game alive but ultimately announced on September 28th that the game would be shutting down permanently. The announcement reads:
Following an incredible 11 years since its initial launch back in 2009, we are officially announcing the closure of the original FarmVille game on Facebook. 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 31st, 2020. FarmVille will therefore be directly affected as a result of this.
We’re 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.
In advance of sunsetting the game, we would like to point out that in-app purchases will be available up until November 17, at which point the game’s payment system will be completely turned off. Thereafter the game will not be accepting any in-app payments and any refunds will not be processed during this time. FarmVille will, however, continue to be playable until December 31st, 2020, at which point it will be shut down completely.
Any remaining credits that you have during this period should be used before December 31st, 2020. We are also working on fun in-game activities to be announced soon that are designed to make your remaining time with FarmVille even more enjoyable.
We hope that the in-game experiences we’ve developed over the years have provided you with the highest level of entertainment that we strive to fulfill here at Zynga. We look forward to you joining us in Farmville 2: Tropic Escape, Farmville 2: Country Escape and the upcoming worldwide launch of FarmVille 3 on mobile.
Zynga also posted a follow-up FAQ that confirms a “bonus package” for current FarmVille players who make the switch to FarmVille 2: Tropic Escape before December 31st, playable on mobile devices and on Facebook. Polygon’s news post sums up the history of FarmVille, Zynga, and casual gaming on Facebook pretty well if you’d like a refresher on the bygone era of the early 2010’s.
I won’t be adding an individual page for FarmVille to the site (yet, anyways) but I have added the cutoff dates to the Watch List calendar to keep tabs on.