Like Breakaway before it, Amazon’s Crucible is over before it began. Before it began again. It really depends where you start counting. Yes, Amazon announced tonight that it’s “discontinuing development” on its beleaguered online shooter. The move may seem a bit sudden, as the game just got a patch four days ago, but fans will recall that the game performed poorly at launch and was actually pulled back into closed beta for a do-over in June, which it ran all summer and into the fall.
“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 of Crucible,” Amazon admitted. “We’ll be transitioning our team to focus on New World and other upcoming projects from Amazon Games.”
New World, of course, is the company’s flagship in-development MMORPG, which itself saw major revisions over the past year and two major delays in 2020. As for those other games, we know about a shooter and a sci-fi MMO that may or may not be the same thing, a Lord of the Rings MMO, and (as rumor has it) the western port of Lost Ark.
Amazon says it’s refunding Crucible players for all purchases, turning off additional purchases, and hosting farewell events through the planned closing date of November 9th. Our condolences to the players who’d found and are now losing a gaming home.
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