March 17 saw the Steam release of a Sci-Fi extraction game focused on close-quarters combat titled THE CUBE, SAVE US, but unfortunately, the title has been unable to find and sustain a playerbase. As such, it is shutting down on May 7 at 6 pm PT/9 pm ET. Between the release and shutdown on Steam, it will have been on the market for just 52 days.
Unfortunately, that’s not the shortest any game has existed before being shut down. PlayStation’s hero shooter Concord barely survived two weeks, battle royale game The Culling 2 only survived 8 days, and plenty of other games have died well before they had their time in the sun. While there are certainly single-player games that have shut down, or single-player games like Dragon Age: Inquisition where the multiplayer shuts down under certain circumstances, it’s worth noting how many recent shutdowns are live-service or online-only games.
EA Game is Shutting Down on June 24
EA is ending service for the HD version of a popular game that has been around since 2009, with plenty more shutdowns planned in 2026.
THE CUBE, SAVE US Shuts Down on May 7
That’s the case with THE CUBE, SAVE US; developer XLGames had live-service ambitions with a free-to-play model. It just could not sustain the player base willing to pay for in-game purchases. At launch, it received over 5000 players, but a steep drop-off saw it struggle to maintain a couple of hundred. Similarly, while the demo was loved during the Steam Next Fest this past October, the reviews for its full launch paint a completely different picture. It currently has 398 reviews, as of this writing, and they are Mostly Negative according to Steam. Only 33% of reviews are positive.
Most negative reviews call out server issues, terrible combat, and aggressive pay-to-win monetization, but there are some who praised its visuals and were saddened by the shutdown announcement. The good news is that everything anyone has spent in THE CUBE, SAVE US has been refunded to players as of April 9, so folks should keep an eye out for that.
How to Check Your Refund If You’ve Purchased Anything in THE CUBE, SAVE US
- As of this writing, developer XLGames reports that full refunds for all products have been issued through Steam.
- If you have made a purchase but have not received your refund, please contact Customer Support with a screenshot of your Steam receipt that includes the transaction ID.
With a little under a month to go until the shutdown, it’s unlikely (especially with refunds) that there would be any course reversal now. However, should anyone wish to check it out now or to continue playing it in the meantime, it’s going to be there a little while longer. And while it did not click with a lot of players, there are some good ideas here, even if the execution faltered. In a world where a new Cold War loomed, a massive cube (similar to Kevin the Cube from Fortnite) appeared and destroyed everything. Decades later, survivors try to fight for survival as they pass through Cube Gates: 27 ever-changing pieces. Players might open one and end up downtown, in a pyramid, or in an amusement park, ensuring every arena and escape route was unique.
Drag weapons to fill the grid
Drag weapons to fill the grid
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Ultimately, that was enough to make a splash despite the extraction game genre getting more attention as of late. Even bigger games like Marathon and ARC Raiders have had weaker moments, and they certainly had stronger backing than THE CUBE, SAVE US.
