Minecraft's maker shuts down Scrolls

Mojang will close down its card-battle strategy game Scrolls, leaving the developer with one active game to its name — Minecraft — less than a year after Microsoft acquired the studio.

Servers for Scrolls still will run to July 1, 2016, says Mojang, but the Echoes update that rolled out earlier this month is the last one Scrolls will receive.

"After much deliberation," says Mojang, "we've come to an important decision that we'd like to share: Echoes will be the last major content patch for Scrolls. We won't be adding features or sets from now on, though we are planning to keep a close eye on game balance."

Scrolls, a trading-card/strategy game, had a beta launch in 2013 and a full launch for Windows PC at the end of 2014. Its development stretches back to 2011 and even provoked a legal fight with Bethesda Softworks, who viewed the Scrolls name as infringing on its trademark to The Elder Scrolls series of games. The two sides ultimately settled.

Microsoft bought Mojang in September 2014 for $2.5 billion, entirely for the Minecraft franchise. Scrolls is the only other game the Swedish studio has launched.