It’s a week of fail, as Disney announces the closure of its Virtual Magic Kingdom casual kids’ MMO (as reported over at Worlds in Motion).

i got to peer into the crystal ball a year ago at the 2007 Game Developers’ Conference, where i shot the breeze with someone working on the project. He said that VMK had no trouble attracting kids who lived outside and frequently visited America’s two Disney theme parks in California and Florida, due to the virtual-to-real-world ties the game offered. The real challenge was attracting everyone else. He also said that Finland was a sunless Hellhole and that he couldn’t wait to escape.

There you have it. Many factors at work. But if Disney’s career booth at GDC 08 was any indication, the company is making good on its promise to invest in virtual worlds - lots and lots of virtual worlds. It’s almost like they’re throwing virtual world spaghetti at the wall to see what will stick, because that one sticky piece is so gosh darned profitable.

In other news, Euro Disney somehow remains viable.