Splash Damage is ending development on its free-to-play shooter Dirty Bomb
"We can't financially justify continuing".
Splash Damage has announced that it will no longer be actively developing or updating its free-to-play multiplayer shooter Dirty Bomb, saying that it "can't financially justify continuing to work on the game".
Dirty Bomb unfolds in London following a string of terrorist attacks and is described as a "fast-paced team game" that "takes first person shooters back to their purest roots". It launched its open beta on Steam in 2015, and finally saw its version 1.0 release in August this year.
In a statement posted on the official Dirty Bomb website, Splash Damage explained that, "It has been a challenging couple of months full of sensitive decisions that we had to make regarding the future of Dirty Bomb. It's with a heavy heart that, after a bug fix build ships in the upcoming weeks, we will be ending live development and updates on Dirty Bomb."
Despite the studio's best efforts, it said, "there were some challenges we couldn't overcome, and we were not able to make DB the success that we hoped it could be. The bottom line is that we can't financially justify continuing to work on the game we love." However, although active development is ending, the developer has pledged to keep Dirty Bomb's servers running "as long as there are a meaningful number of players using them in the supported regions."
"We know many of you love DB and still play it religiously", Splash Damage wrote.
The studio also notes that it will be providing full refunds to anyone that previously purchased Dirty Bomb's Merc Pack DLC, as it will no longer be adding new Mercenaries to the game. Refunds will be sent to the Steam Wallets of those affected by January 31st, 2019. Furthermore, all unlocked Mercs will remain in players' accounts.
"We'd like to say a heartfelt and sincere thank you for your support these many years," Splash Damage concluded, "Dirty Bomb is a shooter that we always wanted to make, we could not have done it without you and are forever grateful.
"The future is bright at Splash Damage, we have many announced and unannounced titles in production that we can't wait to work with you on!"