Quantic Dream has canceled its live service game, Spellcasters Chronicles, just three months after its early access launch.
The French game company released MOBA Spellcasters Chronicles as its first ever free-to-play game in February, but it struggled for players and was met with a “mixed” user review rating on Steam. According to SteamDB, peaked with 888 concurrent players at launch, but had a 24-hour peak of just 54. Rather than see the early access period through to 1.0, Quantic Dream has decided to kill Spellcasters Chronicles now, signalling layoffs.
Quantic Dream is best known for its successful single-player story-driven games, such as Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls, and Detroit: Become Human. Spellcasters Chronicles was a drastic departure, revolving around 3v3 MOBA gameplay. Clearly, it hasn’t worked.
“With Spellcasters Chronicles, Quantic Dream set out to propose a bold and original multiplayer experience,” the developer said in a statement issued to IGN. “It gave our studio the opportunity to explore new creative territories and experiment with new concepts. However, in today’s particularly challenging market environment, we must acknowledge that the game, in its current form, has not reached a sufficient audience to ensure its long-term sustainability.
“We have consequently made the difficult decision to discontinue the development of Spellcasters Chronicles and to refocus our efforts on our other projects. This decision reflects a disciplined and responsible approach in light of current market conditions. It in no way diminishes the remarkable work accomplished by the teams involved. Their talent, creativity, and dedication have been essential in bringing this ambitious project to life, and we are proud of what has been achieved together.”
Quantic Dream then suggested the studio will suffer a round of layoffs.
“As a result, the studio will undertake an internal reorganization,” Quantic dream said. “We are fully committed to ensuring that this transition is handled with fairness, care, and respect. Wherever possible, we will prioritize internal reassignments to support our other productions.”
Quantic Dream told IGN it was unable to share the number of staff affected as the consultation process has only just begun, and must work through the French legal process. Discussions are expected to progress in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, the studio insisted the development of Star Wars Eclipse “is not affected by this decision and continues as planned.”
Announced in 2021 via a flashy cinematic trailer, Star Wars Eclipse has flown under the radar in the years since. Set within the franchise’s High Republic era, Eclipse is expected to integrate Quantic Dreams’ traditional story-based gameplay with an action-adventure game set in the Star Wars universe.
Beyond that, details on what to expect remain thin on the ground, and Quantic Dream has only commented on the project over the past few years to quash rumors of development trouble and delays, amid suggestions that the studio was struggling to hire staff following previous workplace allegations. Star Wars Eclipse is still without a release window.
Spellcasters Chronicles will remain accessible online until June 19, 2026, at which point the servers will be shut down. As a “gesture of respect toward the players who placed their trust in us,” Quantic Dream said all amounts spent during Early Access will be fully refunded upon request.
Spellcasters Chronicles is just the latest live service video game disaster to crash and burn, joining the likes of Sony’s Concord, Warner Bros. Games’ Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, and, most recently, Highguard. Even battle royale behemoth Fortnite has struggled to keep up player interest. Meanwhile, some single-player games have enjoyed enormous relative success, with the likes of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, and Crimson Desert all breaking out.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
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