Amazon stops development of its first major video game, Crucible
Amazon ceased further development of its first major video game Crucible, citing the online retailer’s consistent struggle to make progress in the industry.
“We didn’t see a healthy, sustainable future ahead of Crucible,” the company mentioned in a blog post on Friday. The people working on the project will be assigned to other upcoming games and customers will get their refunds, it added.
Crucible was considered a breakthrough for Amazon’s gaming division, which was started in 2012. However, when it was launched in May, it received poor reviews and become an instant flop. Following which, Amazon updated the game to an invite-only closed beta. Amazon had canceled a previously announced game and reduced some jobs in the games department, before launching Crucible.
“This has been a labor of love, and we’re grateful for the time we got to spend on planet Crucible with you,” Amazon wrote in the blog.
The development team that was working on Crucible will now focus on another original game named New World. Earlier, the upcoming MMORPG was scheduled to release in August 2020, but later the release moved to spring 2021.
Creating original games is one of Amazon’s key strategies to penetrate the video games industry. The e-commerce giant bought Twitch, the live-streaming platform widely-used by gamers, in 2014. In September, Amazon launched Luna, a subscription-based video game streaming service that will allow gamers to play without costly devices like consoles.
