Spellcaster Chronicles
Quantic Dream
In a movie neither shocking nor surprising, we have yet another ending to a live multiplayer PvP game that probably shouldn’t have existed in the first place. This time, it’s one of the weirder ideas, that narrative-focused studio Quantic Dream would suddenly run in the other direction and make a 3v3 MOBA-style offering, Spellcaster Chronicles. Now, three months after its Early Access release, the game is now dead after putting up numbers reminiscent of the endlessly reported Concord. But here, it’s more apt than usual.
Here is part of it Quantic Dream note announcing the shutdown:
“Today, Quantic Dream is announcing the discontinuation of its development Spellcasters Chronicles.
“With this project, our teams set out to explore new creative territory and create a bold, original multiplayer experience. Spellcasters Chronicles it allowed us to experiment with new ideas and bring to life an ambitious game shaped by the talent, creativity and dedication of everyone involved.”
“In today’s highly demanding market environment, the game has not reached the audience it needs to ensure its long-term viability. Therefore, we have made the difficult decision to refocus our efforts on our other projects.”
Refunds will be issued for anything spent on the game in Early Access given this quick death, and Quantic Dream assures players that its most popular project, the once again narrative-focused Star Wars Eclipseremains in the works, though still without a release date.
Spellcasters Chronicles
Steamdb
Spellcaster’s numbers were beyond pathetic. Its maximum concurrent count on Steam at launch was 888 players, quickly pacing to around 150, and now at 54, which on this platform would mean enough players for a total of nine 3v3 PvP games. So, is this Concord level? I mean, numerically, but Concord closed after two weeks and had the distinction of many, many more years of work and hundreds of millions in development, which, as far as we know, Spellcasters was nowhere near. Plus, Spellers it was free to play and still put those totals.
Once again, this feels like a cautionary tale of trying to build something in the live space that nobody asked for and that doesn’t break new ground enough. We saw this most recently with Highguardanother fast-paced game that debuted in first place at The Game Awards. So what chance did a game have Spellcasters Chronicles have you ever
I find myself a little cynical about all these games getting shut down and the laments about said studios wanting to “explore creativity in space”, etc, etc. It seems to me that too many people are trying to make it rich in the live space, whether it’s in their talent or not, whether or not they make a game that someone likes. But at a certain point, with enough studios and games shutting down, we have to reach a point where the costs and risks outweigh the dream of being next Fortnite. And yet, there’s still more of it seemingly in the works to come, and some are faltering out of it as we speak.
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