WELCOME TO CRUCIBLE PRE-SEASON!

“We’re just getting started- pre-season is when we’ll be adding core features and improving the game to prepare for the launch of our first major season in the future.” -'Crucible' Title Page

That is how you are greeted in Relentless Studios and Amazon Games’ new hero shooter and MOBA crossover ‘Crucible.’ As of today, however, before any major additions could be introduced to the game, developers are “retiring” two of the three game modes.  

In a recent update video Colin Johanson, Franchise Lead at Relentless, said, “moving forward we’re going to be focusing really heavily on Heart of the Hives as the core experience of ‘Crucible.’” He also announced the quick retirement of Alpha Hunters, due to its small percentage of players, and Harvest Command “down the road, when [they] feel the onboarding process, to the game, is better.”

He, and the developer update, go on to give their official statement for the over haul, including community involvement in creation and, as the article says, “to refine the design of core systems without the compromises we needed to make to support three game modes.”

However, what is interesting here is how he ends the video as he says, “I want to make it really clear; we’re not going anywhere. We’re fully supported in making ‘Crucible’ into the game that we see the spectacular vision for…and we’re really excited for down the road, when we can really reach that vision, what ‘Crucible’ is going to turn into all together.”

Too Unknown To Fail

‘Crucible’ has been regularly losing active players since launch

A game being released unfinished or undergoing frequent, often, and sizeable downloads of maintenance shortly after launch is nothing new, the first major title of a billion dollar corporation going this unnoticed is odd, and raises questions about what we should expect from Amazon Games.

According to SteamDB, since being released ‘Crucible’ has been steadily losing traction in the form of active players, never passing 1,000 after June 2nd, and Business Insider even got somebody to graph the decline of Twitch users streaming and viewing ‘Crucible,’ only one week after launch. With no new players coming to fill three game modes worth of queues, one game mode could certainly be an easy solution to maintain a smaller, more entrenched fanbase, or just enough of a backstep to keep a game alive and not admit it has failed.

Amazon Games So Far

‘Breakaway’ Amazon Games’ first cancelled game

I will not be breaking down Amazon Games’ entire history, but there are some interesting dates and figures in the company’s past that do not align with the low-key marketing, release, and maintenance plan of the game.  

In 2014, Amazon Games announced it would begin developing PC games, and licensed CryEngine, a deal rumored to be between $50-70 million dollars. The engine is the foundation for all upcoming and planned releases, including ‘Crucible,’ but they were also recruiting well known developers from well known titles, to join their team, many of whom would leave well before the release of ‘Crucible.’

Then, a couple of years later, ‘Breakaway’, ‘Crucible’ and ‘New World’ were announced, with most of the focus being on 'Breakaway.' While ‘Crucible’ may be the first major release for Amazon Games, it was not intended to be, but Breakaway, a team based, multiplayer brawler with some unfortunate similarities to ‘Overwatch,’ was officially cancelled in 2018.

A year after their first release was dead before arrival, on the last day of E3, Amazon Studios laid off dozens of employees from their video game division, according to a spokesperson, “to prioritize development of ‘New World’ [and] ‘Crucible.’” They also added, “Amazon is deeply committed to games and continues to invest heavily in Amazon Game Studios, Twitch, Twitch Prime, AWS, our retail businesses, and other areas within Amazon.”

Finally, in an interview transcript released May 19,2020, the day before the official launch, Louis Castle, head of the ‘Crucible’ team said, “We have a game that’s been in testing for more than three years, more or less in the same state it’s in right now. That shows in the quality of the experience and the balance of all the characters.

As we follow the timeline back, everything seems to indicate ‘Crucible’ should have been, and by all accounts from Amazon spokespeople, was the priority. From the large early investment, the cancellation of its first major title, hiring known developers, game designers, and development teams, as well as slimming down to ensure a successful launch, it seems Amazon Games was solely focused on delivering a hit, but instead we ended up with an underwhelming release, and a quick abandonment of the game by the players, and perhaps a future in limbo for the game and its developers.

Amazon Games Now

‘Crucible’ features ‘hunters’ with unique looks, weapons, and abilities

Maybe ‘Crucible’ is getting the re-work the true fans are asking for, and maybe there is a life for this game somewhere in the future once it is defined by the community. However, Amazon Games have a cancellation and a major bust on their first two game releases.

While I still do not have definite answers as to why this release is so underwhelming or access to marketing and development budgets, it is clear ‘Crucible’ is not going to be a major release, remembered gloriously as the day Amazon Games changed gaming. For now, I imagine they will turn their attention to ‘New World’ to ensure that this does not happen again. ‘New World,’ an open world sandbox/survival game is set to be released in August, and is available for pre-purchase now on Steam. It features a $39.99 regular or $49.99 Deluxe price tag, and gamers are sure to remember a $40 flop much longer than a free to play fizzle.