Back in E3 2014, Microsoft unveiled a new game creation game called Project Spark, which many people got excited about because it would have Conker from Rare’s Conker’s Bad Fur Day in it.  Well the game has been online since March 2014, and now Microsoft announced that they will cancel all future development on the game.  The game is no longer available to download, although those who own the game can still download and upload creations until August 12th.

While the game is cancelled, Community Manager Thomas Gratz thanked the team and the fans on the Project Spark site.  Fortunately, no one was laid off from the cancellation and the member’s of the Project Spark team have moved to different projects.  Gratz thanked the game’s community, saying “…our passionate fans have then gone above and beyond supporting Project Spark by uploading hundreds of thousands of creations and dreaming up millions of objects, behaviors, and experiences.”

Project Spark was similar to the RPG Maker series where players could make their own game, but the variety of games in Project Spark included platformers, shooters, action games, and even interactive movies.  Project Spark had game creation tools with more depth than something like LittleBigPlanet, as you were able to record video and dialogue and even have complete control of the game’s camera.  It was like a beginners game development kit, with some pretty impressive projects that came out of it.

In September last year, Microsoft made Project Spark completely free, but also cancelled the teased Conker DLC.  Many fans were excited to see Conker back, with his last game being Conker: Live and Reloaded in 2005.  Unfortunately, we will have to keep wishing for a new Conker game.  Maybe he can be a DLC character for Killer Instinct.

Conker did actually make another appearance though.  Earlier this year Microsoft showed off the new Hololens, a VR headset that creates images around what you see in the real world.  Conker was used as a demo for what the Hololens could do, and the reaction was not good.  Fans did not like seeing a cute and cuddly Conker jumping around on couches, which was so far away from the alcoholic squirrell we all know and love.  Microsoft has all of these Rare properties, but it seems they don’t know how to use them.  Maybe someone could make something close to a new Conker game in Project Spark before it shuts down.