Muus Collective, a pioneering fashion game company run by women, has shut down due to its challenges in the game market.
Amanda Lulewicz, head of marketing at Muus Collective, announced the closure in a LinkedIn post.
“With a heavy heart, I’m sharing that we’ve had to wind down Muus Collective. 💔,” Lulewicz wrote. “While we built a truly special product that resonated deeply with thousands of passionate Stylists, the current challenges in the gaming market made it difficult for us to secure the funding needed to move forward.”
She added, “That said, I don’t see this as a failure. What we achieved over the past three years was truly extraordinary. This chapter has been one of the most defining and fulfilling of my career, and I’m endlessly proud of what we built and the community we served. 💖”
Lulewicz said in a message to GamesBeat that the team’s final roster was 14 full-time people and 15 contractors. The final day was last Friday, July 18.
Lulewicz said she was proudest of the company’s ability to adapt to customer needs.
“We were heading in a very different direction when Muus was first established, but through market and customer research, we pivoted towards what the market needed, rather than just what we hoped to create,” she wrote. “In the end, we were able to deliver an experience that exceeded expectations, and what many of our Stylists called the best fashion game out there.”
She also said the company was successful in cracking e-commerce for gaming.
“I have worked on platforms that have blurred the line between gaming and lifestyle apps my entire gaming career (10+ years),” she said. “While these other games provided wonderful player experiences, they were never quite able to integrate the e-commerce tie-in effectively. We were not only able to deliver, but also exceed expectations in our ability to drive real-world sales through our seamless integration with Revolve.”
The latter is a reference to fashion brand retailer Revolve, which had an exclusive relationship on the retail/ecommerce side with Muus Collective.
Lulewicz credited the team for caring about its strong culture and mission. The leaders included co-CEOs Amber Bezahler and Sarah Fuchs, while backers included Griffin Gaming Partners.