Developer Relentless Studios have announced hero shooter Crucible is returning to closed beta, after a poor reception and dwindling player numbers.
The Amazon Games free-to-play title had been met with less-than-stellar reviews [1, 2], including our own. Despite a relatively fair business model in today’s day and age, the issues were numerous.
These included maps that were too large and sparse, weapons felt weak, the game modes felt directionless and random, there was no way to communicate with your team, characters were in-balanced, and the “General lack of polish makes the game feel like an alpha test build sent out to die.”
Two of the game modes were removed to help improve the remaining one (though one was kept after fan-outcry). According to Steam Database, the game’s peak was at launch with over 25,000 on May 20th, falling to less than 200 players from June 26th.
The game’s Twitch views suffered a similar hemorrhage; with a peak at launch of 120,000 viewers, down to figures now fluctuating between almost 400 to less than 70.
This news that is sure to be embarrassing for Amazon, considering they own Twitch, and that the game reportedly had “hundreds of millions of dollars“ invested into it.
Now, a developer update has revealed the game is re-entering closed beta, and being taken off the market to the general public. The team will follow the development roadmap based on user feedback they laid out earlier, and it is explained the player’s “experience as a Crucible player will stay pretty much the same while we’re in beta.” Players will also keep their items and progress.
However, there will also be a scheduled time every week where the developers will play with the community and solicit feedback. A “community council” will also be set up, made of “beta participants of all playstyles from casual to highly competitive players, who we’ll be working especially closely with.” More information on this council will come at a later date.
You can find the message in full below.
“A few weeks ago, I told you about the steps we were taking to change and improve Crucible in response to your feedback. That plan is still the same, but we’re taking a new step that will help us focus on providing the best possible experience for our players as we continue to make the game better. Starting tomorrow, Crucible is moving to closed beta. We’ll continue following the roadmap we laid out previously and working on map, combat, and system changes to improve the Heart of the Hives experience as well as implementing other improvements based on your feedback and what we think the game needs in order to thrive.
For the most part, your experience as a Crucible player will stay pretty much the same while we’re in beta. One of the biggest changes you’ll see is that we’re going to schedule dedicated time each week when we as devs will be playing with the community and soliciting feedback. The game will be accessible 24/7 so you can continue to self-organize matches with other players—we recommend joining our Discord server to find players to queue against. You’ll still launch Crucible through Steam (you don’t even need a new download), you’ll keep all the progress and customization items you’ve already earned, and the battle pass, reward tracks, and in-game store will continue to be supported.
We’re setting up a community council, made up of beta participants of all playstyles from casual to highly competitive players, who we’ll be working especially closely with. We’ll have more information on that council, as well as our weekly play schedule, soon.
Even though Crucible will be in closed beta, nothing is changing about the way you can engage with the game: you’re still welcome to stream, to share screenshots and clips, and to talk about what you experience in the beta.
What now?
If you’ve got friends who want to be part of the Crucible beta, you can encourage them to get the game before tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. PT (6 p.m. CET). In the near future, newly interested folks will be able to sign up through playcrucible.com.
We’ll keep putting out updates, working with organizers to run tournaments, talking with you on Discord, the subreddit, and our other social media channels, and making Crucible better and better with your help. When we exit beta, it will be based on your feedback and the metrics that we see in-game.
Thank you for being part of our community. We’re looking forward to the closed beta and to what’s in store for the future of Crucible.”
Crucible is in closed beta on Windows PC via Steam.
Image: Crucible official website
