One of the longest running unofficial services for Xbox 360 users has been shut down. MyGamerCard.net, which has been around as long as the Xbox 360 itself, has closed its virtual doors. Founder Jason Young -- known to most of us by his Gamertag, Morgon -- has posted a lengthy goodbye on the site, explaining his reasons for the shutdown, which includes the service's leaderboards.
According to Young, the "love for community has been lost by Microsoft," and its many community-based projects, including the Xbox Community Developer Program, have "stagnated." He adds that some sites have been using non-kosher methods to scrape data from Xbox.com, a practice Microsoft has allegedly done little to quell, but one Young says shows a "lack of respect" nonetheless. Faced with this sort of unscrupulous competition, as well as a poor advertising environment, he was forced to shut down the service after paying half of MGC's costs himself for over a year.
Both Joystiq and its community have enjoyed the ever expanding service since its inception. Initially offering GamerCards that could be posted onto websites and forums, MGC expanded to offer leaderboards, Achievement completion percentages and even daily gaming news. In fact, looking back at my tenure at Joystiq's former Xbox site, Xbox 360 Fanboy, I can testify that many of our community projects wouldn't have been possible without it.
Those wishing to keep up with Young can do so on Xbox Live or Twitter.
