Back in 2009, when Facebook was really pushing the use of in-platform apps and games, one adorable, low intensity simulator swept social media and turned just about everyone you knew into knowledgeable agronomists. FarmVille became—and remained, at least for a while—one of the most popular (or most annoying, if you were on the receiving end of all of those request notifications) Flash games on Facebook. 11 years later, developer Zynga has announced that it is shuttering the game for good as Facebook ends its support of Flash content.
“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,” the Zynga team announced on its webpage. “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.”
If you managed to escape the addictive clutches of Zynga’s cash cow, FarmVille was a collaborative simulator that allowed users to start and expand farms with the help of “neighbors” (or, you know, that one guy who used to religiously copy your Biology homework during sophomore year). Since its inception, the game has gone through a number of evolutions as recently as last year and spawned a few sequels. For those god-tier devotees who have be digitally growing eggplants and wrangling cattle from the start, the game will remain available until the end of the year while in-app purchases will cease on November 17. Any pooled credits should be used up by the end of the year, as well.
Before you completely mourn the simpler times of growing fake veggies before we all had to pivot real-life quarantine gardens, there are still plenty of ways to enjoy the FV Universe—and, per Zynga, they largely exist on your phone. “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.”
Happy trails to an OG, though. You lived long enough for us to forget you for a little while, but not long enough for the gritty Netflix adaptation you deserved.