Playdom will pull the plug on Social City next month

I hate to say it gamers, but it was only a matter of time. After launching Social City on Facebook back in the Spring of 2010, Playdom's city-building game skyrocketed in popularity and for a time sat on the top charts for most popular Facebook games. That popularity declined quickly however, and the game has continued to hemorrhage users up until now, with the game currently resting at just 270,000 monthly active players (20,000 daily active players, according to AppData).

While new content is still regularly pushed out for the game, one could argue that CityVille's release last year was the final straw for what would break its chance of a revival. It may have put up a hard fight, but Playdom is finally saying goodbye to its city-builder. Via emails that have now started circulating to players, we see that the game will officially close on December 20, 2011. There's no mention as to what will happen to any remaining City Bucks, the game's premium currency, but the ability to purchase more has seemingly been removed from the game (you'll receive an error message when attempting to go to the "Get City Bucks" page).

We can only assume that the reasoning behind the closure has been the mass exodus of players, along with any revenue they might have been providing, but Playdom is attempting to save existing players by advertising Gardens of Time and Gnome Town in the same breath as this closing announcement. "Unfortunately we feel the game has run its course," the email reads. "As we release new games, we hope to have your continued support and patronage!"

It's been fun Social City. Thanks for the memories.

Were you one of the faithful players that still latched to hope for the game's resurgence, or had you long ago abandoned the game for Zynga's CityVille or other city-builders on Facebook? Sound off in the comments.