If you’re in anyway a fan, a follower or even some evangelical supporter of online, live service/GaaS-type releases, perhaps now might be the perfect time to avert your gaze and ignore what be might be one of the more dire and downbeat periods for this particular corner of the video game industry. Or perhaps by contrast: you may well be celebrating this more recent string of news stories. A sign, you might think, that these types of games may not be able to both find and sustain the player-base their models so often need to continue existing. For in the span of roughly a week, almost a dozen games have been confirmed to be ending service in the coming months – with more on top having announced that no new content is in production. At the time of writing, the following games are among that lengthy list:
Apex Legends Mobile- Released to the public in May of last year, the service was confirmed on January 31 to be ending a little three months later on May 1 at 4PM Pacific. Though players can still spend any remaining virtual currency they’ve accrued, EA state that no refunds will be given for anything already spent in-game. The game’s closure does not affect or impact Apex Legends which will, the publisher states, continue to be supported across PC and consoles.
Battlefield Mobile- From one mobile spin-off published by EA to another, Battlefield#s free-to-play mobile spin-off will not see the light of day. After hosting several private beta tests in November of last year, EA confirm that Industrial Toys' project – the developer behind the project, whom EA acquired back in 2018 – is no more. Stating that they have decided to “pivot from the current direction to best deliver on our vision for the franchise and meet the expectations of players”. Referring to both continued updates on the recently-released Battlefield 2042 as well as the series' next installment.
Crayta- Created by Unit 2 Games, Crayta was promoted as a “mass-market collaborative game creation and publishing platform” as far back as 2018 when it was originally unveiled. Two years later, Crayta debuted exclusively on the now-defunct Stadia platform before being made available on the Epic Games Store a year later. “While we’ve expanded Crayta significantly since launch, we’ve unfortunately not seen quite enough growth for us to justify continuing,” the studio announced this Wednesday. Crayta will go offline March 3 at 8am Pacific.
Crimesight- One of many attempts to capitalise on the runaway success of Among Us in 2020, Konami’s take on the social-deduction style of game, which launched in April of last year, will cease operations on May 1 at Midnight Pacific time. Neither the game’s online or offline functionality will continue to function from this point.
CrossfireX- The collaborative effort between Remedy Entertainment and Smilegate – which was exclusive to the Xbox platform via Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One – will be pulled on May 18, round fifteen months since its initial release on February 10 last year. Both the game’s single-player and multiplayer components received predominantly negative receptions respectively and while the game did receive major updates in the months following, it sadly wasn’t enough to deter the studios to pull the plug.
Dragon Quest The Adventure of Dai: A Hero’s Bonds- Just short of its second anniversary – originally releasing in September 2021 – Square Enix is to shutter the mobile RPG spin-off on April 26. For Square Enix, it’ll be the fourth game that will cease activity in a short space of time. The publisher having already made the decision to end development and service for the likes of Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier, Bravely Default: Brilliant Lights an lest we forget, the most infamous example: the PlatinumGames-developed Babylon’s Fall.
Echo VR- Considered by many to be one of the more highly-rated VR games available for the platform, developed by Ready At Dawn, Echo VR will be shut down on August 1 at 10AM Pacific. The developer claiming the main reason for this is to have “all hands on deck” and to “come together to focus on our next project.”
Knockout City- The third title published by EA to suffer from the same fate. The game that was not withoutits admirersand someacknowledgmentover how surprisingly entertaining it was when it released in May 2021. But the game’s upcoming ninth season of content will be its last, with the game being taken offline on June 6. A small consolation to this news is that private servers on PC will be supported, by way of a stand-alone, privately-hosted version of the game that will be made available at a later date.
Rumbleverse- With what might be one of the shorter lives on this list – not even reaching a full year of being active – Iron Galaxy’s wrestling-themed Battle Royale, Rumbleverse, exits the ring on February 28 at 8AM Pacific. Though the studio do state that refunds will be given for those having spent money in-game. Rumbleverse was originally unveiled in December 2021 and released in August of last year across PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One & PC via the Epic Games Store.
But this list doesn’t include other notable high-profile games such asMarvel’s Avengersand even the likes ofBack 4 Bloodthat have themselves recently issued statements pertaining to their respective futures. In the former case, its lead developer Crystal Dynamicsstatethat Marvel’s Avengers will receive its final update on March 31, with all support for the game ending at the end of September – though both single-player and multiplayer gameplay will still be accessible. In the case of Back 4 Blood, developer Turtle Rock haveconfirmedno new content will be coming for their latest co-operative shooter. Stating, rather bluntly: “we don’t have quite enough folks to continue working on Back 4 Blood content while we spin up another game – yes, another game! Given this, it’s time for us to put our heads down, get back in the lab, and get to work on the next big thing”
And that’s just the games known about and most recent of updates to be issued. Who knows what other blog posts, important announcements or the like, will be issued in the coming days or weeks. But even this minute list of releases shows how tough it is to find sustainability in the overly-saturated market that is live service titles.
