Summary
Multiplayer gamescan be hard to establishdue to the area being so saturated. It’s tricky for new franchises to carve a name for themselves in the crowded market, and sometimes it’s not even the developer’s fault. There have been some actually quite good multiplayer games released over the last few years that just failed to catch on, and have since shut down.
It just goes to show how marketing is one of the most important and effective tactics in the industry. However, not even that can save some multiplayer games which were ostensibly doomed from the start. Sometimes, gamers will just prefer to buy franchises or titles that are already established, rather than try out new ones or risk spending their hard-earned money on something different.
In this case, “died” means the games lost most of their fanbase within a year, not necessarily that they closed down.
Unfortunately for Rebellion Developments,Strange Brigadeis a great game that just never quite picked up the player count it was hoping for. It’s a unique third-person shooter which focuses on co-operative multiplayer gameplay. Gamers take onthe roles of various archaeological explorers, in the vein ofIndiana Jones. It had dramatically low player numbers at launch, which only decreased within the next year, sometimes even dropping into single digits.
It’s set in the 1930s and it’s actually great fun, which is why it’s so disappointing that it flopped. However, there is some good news asStrange Brigadehas recently had a sudden surge in players over the last few months, with October 2023 seeing a +3220.57% increase in popularity. The reason is possibly due to a sale discounting the game by 95%. Whatever the reason though, it’s nice to see some higher player numbers populating the game.
Evolvewas anasymmetrical multiplayer shooter, made by Turtle Rock Studios, the developers behind the excellentLeft 4 Dead.Evolvewas seen as a spiritual successor toLeft 4 Deadas it followed a similar gameplay structure, but it never quite managed to take off. It was a unique take on multiplayer gaming, tasking four players to go up against one hunter player.
The hunter played as one of many monster designs and had to consume wildlife and evolve, eventually finishing off the survivors, whilst the survivors had to complete objectives and eliminate the monster. It was a critical success but instantly failed to retain its numbers after launch. The devs even tried a free to play re-release in 2016, but even that failed to entice new players. The servers shut down in July 2023 for the final time.
Paragonwas a multiplayer online battle arena developed by Epic Games and released into early access in 2016. Unfortunately, by 2018, the servers had shut down andParagonwas never officially released. There aren’t any exact player stats to be found, making the closing of the game more intriguing.
Whilst a low player count clearly had an impact onParagon’sfate, it’s also due to the success ofFortnitethatParagonwas abandoned. Epic Games transferred their resources fromParagoninto the development and continuation ofFortnitewhich had an extremely high and successful player count. However, there is good news for fans as Epic releasedParagon’sassets to the public upon its closure, and it’s recently seen arevival inParagon: The Overprime, developed by South Korean studio Netmarble.
Lawbreakerswas an online FPS that featured low-gravity gunplay where two teams of five competed against each other to secure victory. There were a variety of different game modes, and it was a surprisingly fun and innovative shooter. The problems came because of the developer’s ambitions.
Cliff Blezinski, the developer of the game,expectedLawbreakersto be an instant success, and was in fact so confident that he made the conscious decision not to release the game on Xbox One at launch. After months of attempting to hype the game and label it as the future of online gaming,Lawbreakersdied a quick and tragic death within less than a year. The servers were shut down in September 2018.
Developed byGearbox Software, the creators of theBorderlandsfranchise,Battlebornhad lots of hypeand interest leading up to its launch. It looked like a fun, visually stylish online shooter with some MOBA elements - and it was exactly that. Unfortunately,Battlebornsimply failed to be anything special.
It was a game that was squashed by the success of Blizzard’sOverwatch,which was released only months afterBattleborn.The effects ofOverwatch’srelease are prevalent, however, as its release is exactly whenBattleborn’snumbers drastically dropped.
Rift Sweepersis a multiplayer game that lots of players probably won’t have ever heard of. It was an interesting third person co-op shooter, packed with sci-fi elements and played similarly toReturnal. Unfortunately,Rift Sweeper’sdevelopment was plagued with difficulties and the game featured some terrible bugs.
The devs acknowledged this in their closing statement on the Steam Store, stating thatRift Sweeperswas put “in early access prematurely. As such, it did not receive the attention and engagement we had anticipated.” It’s a shame becauseRift Sweepersdid have some solid potential, and it will be interesting to see what JOFSOFT put out next.
Another game that collapsed too quickly wasSuper People 2. This was an interesting battle royale game with classes where players could gain super-powered abilities and features. It featuredmore tactical gameplaythan most battle royales and demonstrated some impressive visuals.
Super People 2failed to find its foothold in thecrowded battle royale genre, however, and servers were terminated in August 2023. It originally launched as justSuper Peoplebut the 2 was added in a rebranding after significant changes were added to the game. Unfortunately, this rebranding could do little to save the dwindling player count.
Cruciblewas Amazon’s first attempt at entering the video game industry, and it’s safe to say it didn’t work out so well. This was an online MOBA shooter (there’s a theme here) that featured different characters all with unique abilities. The main problem was thatCruciblejust wasn’t all that great, and the MOBA genre already had too many failed entries in it.
Within the first week of the game being available, the player count dropped significantly. The early access period proved to be a complete failure and Amazon pushed it back into closed beta by the end of June. Unfortunately, due to a negative performance, Crucible was shelved on the 9th October 2020, with development discontinued. Amazon would instead throw all their efforts into their MMONew Worldwhich has since seen a highly successful launch and maintained a prosperous community.
