Lego acquires Lego Universe MMOG

Gazillion's Lego Universe massively multiplayer online game was in development for four years before launching last October, but the game was online for only four months before the developer divested itself of the project. Today, Gazillion announced that it has sold its rights to Lego Universe to The Lego Group, the Denmark company that publishes the game and manufactures the building block toys on which it is based. No purchase price was announced.

As part of the deal, the Lego Group has offered employment to "the majority of the Lego Universe development team," which was formerly part of Gazillion's NetDevil subsidiary. They will continue to work on the game from their existing Colorado offices, while Gazillion's other NetDevil projects will be moved elsewhere. According to an unconfirmed account, the move resulted in more than 20 layoffs from NetDevil.

"We're proud of the game our team built and are certain that it has a bright future," Gazillion president and COO David Brevik said in a statement. "The transition of members of our team to the Lego Group enables us to focus completely on internally published, free-to-play game businesses."

Lego Universe has been expanding since launch with additional items and environments. Earlier this month, the game incorporated the Ninjago toy line into its world, as well as new multiplayer features allowing four gamers to adventure together.

For more on Lego Universe, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.

[CORRECTION]: This article originally referred to Lego Universe as a "free-to-play" game. GameSpot regrets the error.