The live-service game graveyard has just gained another tenant, as the developers of The Cube, Save Us announced that the online extraction shooter will shut down next month, starting May 8. Describing the end of the game’s service as “heartbreaking,” developer XL Games added in a blog post that full refunds will be issued for all items purchased via Steam.
This news stings even more because The Cube, Save Us has only been out for a few weeks. XL Games did not explain why the game is shutting down, but it is likely due to low player numbers and poor reception. The Cube, Save Us launched on March 18 for PC and peaked at 5,177 players on its first day, and after that, the player count dropped quickly, averaging just a few hundred each day. Most reviews were negative, which likely hurt sales and kept potential players away.
Live-service games have had a tough time in recent years. Many big releases have failed to catch on and ended up shutting down. Concord and Highguard are two examples, and Hawked, a shooter similar to Fortnite, will also close its servers later this year. Some of these games shut down just weeks after launch, while others lasted a few months.
One main reason is that live-service games often lose players quickly and cannot keep up the excitement from launch in a crowded market. Even big names in the genre are having problems. Epic Games recently said it will lay off staff and raise V-Bucks prices because fewer people are playing Fortnite.