It's always sad to see a Facebook game go, but it's even sadder when it is attached to a beloved (and lucrative) franchise. Diner Dash has found success on handhelds like the Nintendo DS, PCs and even the Xbox 360, but not on Facebook. PlayFirst, the game's developer, has announced that it will shut Diner Dash down on Aug. 29, because the game "is no longer performing at a level that can be supported," according to a statement posted on the PlayFirst blog.

The game, which launched just in January of this year, reached an all-time high of 2.5 million monthly players, though players have fallen off considerably, leaving it at just over 1.2 million monthly players right now, according to AppData. What's worse is only a small fraction of those--just over 90 thousand--are playing daily. In other words, it's simply not worth it to keep the game running for PlayFirst, which strikes us as a mixture of odd and heartbreaking.

We enjoyed the game when it first released, though we had our doubts of whether the game could rise to the challenge giants like CityVille have presented to Facebook game latecomers. Unfortunately, like many before it, Diner Dash couldn't hang. However, PlayFirst is offering the PC and Mac OS versions of its hit time-management game--a genre I thought would do extremely well on Facebook considering--for half off the original price until Sept. 1 for those who use the promo code "dinerdash50." You lose a game, you get one for 50 percent off ... at least we didn't come away with nothing.

[Via Inside Social Games]

Were you a fan of Diner Dash on Facebook? Why do you think the game did so poorly on Facebook? Will you continue to play the games elsewhere? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.