Free game shutting down months after release

A free-to-play game from a celebrated developer that launched in October has been announced to be shutting down just months later.

The developer behind free-to-play game Deathverse: Let it Die has announced that the game will be shutting down soon, just months after the game was released.

Deathverse: Let it Die is described by publisher GungHo as “a full-scale survival action game”, and first launched on September 28, 2022 on PlayStation and a week later on PC as a free-to-play game.

The game is developed by Supertrick Games, a studio spun off from celebrated development studio Grasshopper Manufacture. Grasshopper was founded by Suda 51, an eclectic game director known for the No More Heroes series, Killer7, and Lollipop Chainsaw.

While Deathverse: Let it Die saw some initial success upon its release, the game’s player base dropped off significantly following the launch. In the last 30 days, the game reached a maximum concurrent player count of just 50 players on Steam.

A joint statement released by the game’s publisher and developer said that the game would be coming back eventually, but that they’d be taking it offline as they rework the game’s core mechanics and improve it.

Deathverse: Let It Die is developed by Grasshopper Manufacture spin-off studio Supertrick. Picture: GungHo Entertainment

“GungHo Online Entertainment and Supertrick Games announced today that they will be suspending service for Deathverse: Let it Die later this year,” the statement reads, “This will involve a commitment to reexamining core mechanics of the game and significantly improving it for eventual re-release”.

The game’s premium currency, called Death Metals, will be pulled from the in-game store on February 7, while the game itself will go offline on July 18. This means that the game will have lasted just nine months before being taken down.

While the companies involved have claimed the game will eventually be re-released, no time frame was given for when this might happen. The companies ended their statement thanking players for the support they’ve given the game, and invited fans to follow the game’s progress on Twitter.

Deathverse: Let it Die is a spin-off of Let it Die, a game set in the same universe. Picture: GungHo Entertainment

It’s not the only game shutting down after a short amount of time. One of the worst-reviewed games of 2022, Babylon’s Fall, will be shutting down next month, less than a year after it was first released, after it was criticised by fans for being “boring” and for technical issues.

Another recent game with technical issues is the latest entry in the Pokemon series, which arrived “buggy and broken” according to fans, who reported bugs, glitches, and performance issues with the game.

Written by Oliver Brandt on behalf of GLHF.