What just happened? It's official - Amazon's Crucible, the free-to-play multiplayer shooter that launched in May following years of development, has been cancelled after poor reviews, a near absence of players, and a return to closed beta.
Crucible launched on Steam back in May and promised users a team-based, third-person, sci-fi shooter which would be free-to-play. At face value, Crucible appeared to be interesting, with its diverse environments and hero-based gameplay. But things quickly went downhill: player numbers dropped and Crucible returned to closed beta in July.
Now, the Crucible team have confirmed that they're pulling the plug. They said, "We very much appreciate the way that our fans have rallied around our efforts, and we've loved seeing your responses to the changes we've made over the last few months, but ultimately we didn't see a healthy, sustainable future ahead [for] Crucible."
The game will remain playable ahead of a final celebration in the coming weeks, after which matchmaking will be disabled. Custom games, which are due to be added soon, will remain active until November 9. After that, however, it'll be lights-out.
Crucible's developers are expected to move to other Amazon Games, like New World, the impressive-looking (but delayed) MMORPG which is now due to launch in early 2021.