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FarmVille -- yes, that FarmVille -- is buying the farm at the end of 2020

Harvest those crops soon, because the original addictive Facebook game is shutting down.

Gael Cooper
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
Expertise Breaking news, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, food, shopping and deals, product reviews, money and finance, video games, pets, history, books, technology history, generational studies. Credentials
  • Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year"​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
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Gael Cooper
2 min read
farmville

Farewell, Farmville.

 Zynga

It won't be a happy New Year's Eve for FarmVille players. FarmVille, one of the original addictive Facebook games, is shutting down on Dec. 31, maker Zynga said Monday. 

"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 statement read in part. "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 allows players to cultivate colorful cartoonish farms by plowing, planting and harvesting crops and trees, and caring for cows and chickens. Between August 2009 and December 2010, it was the top game played by daily active users on Facebook. In 2011, the game even partnered with singer Lady Gaga, creating a farm inspired by her and featuring music from her Born This Way album. 

At its peak, 30 million people played the game daily, The Verge reports. And the game made its way into pop culture and memes. One popular tweet made the rounds when Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg testified before Congress in 2018, imagining an octogenarian senator asking about his FarmVille pigs.

Players can make in-app purchases until Nov. 17 but must use any remaining credits by Dec. 31.

And if you really want to keep on fake farming, there are other options. The company will continue to operate FarmVille 2: Tropic Escape and FarmVille 2: Country Escape, and says players can look forward to the upcoming worldwide launch of FarmVille 3 for mobile.