LEGO today sent out an email to media explaining that, despite relatively good reviews and 2 million players, the company has not been able to make enough money to sustain its MMOG, LEGO Universe.

The company also announced that, as a result, it will be letting 115 employees go.

From the press release it sounds as if the company is instead focusing efforts on other games. LEGO Universe launched Fall 2010 with a limited trial followed by a paid monthly subscription required to play. It recently switched to a freemium model, allowing anyone to play for free but with additional items and extended content costing real money.

Good news Mac gamers, you’ve got another option starting today. Sony Online Entertainment says Free Realms is waiting for you. You can browse right over to the Free Realms website, make an account, download a tiny Free Realms installer to your browser and after a few minutes you’ll be exploring a new online world.

Free Realms is a free-to-play browser game you can play however you like…

Apparently, I’m not the only one feeling the stagnation of massively multiplayer online (MMO) games. IGN UK reported that Richard Garriot, who was largely responsible for starting the genre with his work on Ultima Online, is also seeing the lack of creativity and he hopes that his new project, Tabula Rasa, will alter the paradigm.

It seems when I first considered the concept of a massive multiplayer online game I got pretty excited. I’m a fan of fantasy and science fiction and when I thought about this new genre of games I imagined…