Mojang closes the book on Scrolls

Minecraft developer Mojang is wrapping up work on its strategic digital card game Scrolls, noting in a farewell post on the company blog today that the game's most recent big update will be its last -- though its servers will be kept online through at least July of next year.

While the game was only officially released last December, it's been in some stage of high-profile development or beta testing for years.

"The launch of the Scrolls beta was a great success. Tens of thousands of players battled daily, and many of them remain active today," reads the farewell post from the Scrolls team. "Unfortunately, the game has reached a point where it can no longer sustain continuous development."

In the wake of the Microsoft buyout last September, it's interesting to look back and remember that Mojang's attempts to develop Scrolls post-Minecraft were complicated by Bethesda's infamous trademark infringment lawsuit, which at one point saw former Mojang chief Markus Persson challenging Bethesda to a few rounds of Quake III deathmatch to settle the dispute.