Spec Ops: The Line dev's free-to-play shooter The Cycle: Frontier is shutting down in September
Game is not "financially viable".
Yager, the developer behind the likes of Spec Ops: The Line and Dreadnought, has announced its free-to-play PvPvE extraction shooter The Cycle: Frontier will be shutting down on 27th September, saying the game is not "financially viable".
The Cycle: Frontier, which arrived on PC last June, sees teams of players - in the role of Prospectors - airdropping onto a hostile alien planet in order to gather resources, fend off predators and competing teams with a steadily expanding arsenal, then whizz back into space at the end with all their hard-earned spoils.
The game has seen three seasons of updates since its launch last summer, but Yager has now announced development is coming to an end, with its most recent patch being its last.
"Today we sadly have to deliver difficult news that we are sharing with a rather heavy heart," the developer wrote in its announcement post. "Despite our best efforts and meaningful improvements brought to the game since launch and up until the release of Season 3, the reality is that The Cycle: Frontier is unfortunately not financially viable.
"This brings us to the heartbreaking announcement: The Cycle: Frontier will be sunset on September 27, 2023. This is a very hard decision for us, but after debating it for a long while, we had to accept this is the best course of action for Yager."
Accompanying the news, Yager shared a more detailed analysis of The Cycle: Frontier's successes and struggles, noting one of the studio's major challenges was a sharp increase in cheaters after launch - a spike it was unable to address rapidly enough, resulting in a "significant decrease" in players. The arrival of Season 2 didn't bring the reverse in fortunes Yager hoped, and while subsequent changes to The Cycle's mechanics caused an "increase in our success metrics", it wasn't enough to make the game "financially viable".
Yager added that while it "strongly considered making the game available to everyone, so that it can be enjoyed offline and possibly on private servers", it ultimately came to the conclusion that "wasn’t feasible" given The Cycle's server-based nature and dedicated backend system.
In preparation for September's shutdown, Yager has ended all real-money purchases, but the in-game shop will still rotate daily and weekly, with all items receiving a 95% discount or more. Additionally, progression speeds will be increased and all players will receive Season 3's premium Fortuna Pass for free upon logging into the game. Finally, Yager will be refunding all purchases made in the last 14 days.
Yager says it will now shift its focus to new projects using "all the valuable experience, learnings, and feedback we've gathered".
"We are incredibly grateful for all your support and dedication," the developer's announcement concluded. "We do think we've created something beautiful but none of this would, or even could, have happened without each and every one of you. We are proud of our community, wish you all the best in your future endeavours and we hope to see you all again. Enjoy your time on Fortuna III and, as always, and now more than ever, don't forget...".