Let's start on a positive note for Joss Whedon fans: At least you have The Avengers to look forward to this summer, right? But those Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly MMOs you've been looking forward to might not be happening as Multiverse, the company behind those titles, shuttered its doors last month.

The middleware creator's official good-bye page notes that the company wasn't able to achieve a "profitable business model" and had to close operations due to a lack of funding. The team began its work in 2004 attempting to create a quick and inexpensive platform for MMOs and shifted its focus to web-based and social games in recent years.

Over the years Multiverse has taken in about $7 million to fund its projects. In addition to acquiring the rights to the two Whedon properties, Multiverse had also done work for James Cameron, Coca-Cola and McDonald's. A few folks have banded together in an effort to establish a non-profit that will assist developers interested in using the Multiverse platform, according to the official site. So there's a possibility that the software itself might live on in one way or another, but it's not looking so good for either project.