Popcorn Time, the most popular illegal streaming service in Europe, reportedly shut down one of its strongest forks — popcorntime.io.
According to BGR, the fork was inaccessible over the weekend after its developers abandoned the project.
In Popcorn Time's official Twitter account, it posted a message about "probably" being its last status.
According to Digital Trends, this is not the first instance that Popcorn Time had disappeared. Back in March 2014, it was abandoned and shut down but returned after a few weeks.
However, it is the first time that those who have worked on the aforementioned fork have left the project.
Now, fans of torrents are wondering what could be the next step for the site or if there is any way Popcorn Time can be revived.
Popcorn Time is not actually dead; the Twitter post comes with a message urging people to support a new project from the developers called "Butter Project."
Based on the Oct. 23 post found on the "Butter Project" page, the team has split Popcorn Time into two projects.
It stated that popcorntime.io will still continue to operate but will be revamped and that Butter will be the upcoming streaming service considered to be legal.
Basically, Popcorn Time creators decided to come up with the Butter Project, which is considered as a "stripped down" version of Popcorn, to do away with legal concerns.
"We're making Butter like any Open Source project: open governance by the contributors and easy to fork," the statement on the page reads.
As for Popcorn Time, the site will continue to operate just like it did; it will retain as Open Source, but the site's infrastructure will now be based on the upcoming Butter.
In addition, Popcorn Time's reign is not really over because it is still accessible through popcorntime.se. However, this particular fork is notorious for adware, spyware, and malware.
