With less than 200 concurrent players, Amazon is closing access to Crucible
Players have until later today to access game
Amazon’s Crucible will be put back into closed beta, following a difficult launch for the team shooter.
Starting at 9 am PT / 5pm BST today, only players who’ve already downloaded the free-to-play game on Steam will be able to continue to access it.
The move, shared on the game’s official website, follows a stagnant start for the free-to-play game, which at the time of publishing has less than 100 viewers on streaming platform Twitch – which its parent company owns.
According to Steam Spy, Crucible had a peak concurrent player count of less than 200 on Tuesday, which is far less than expected for a free-to-play title backed by a major corporation.
Crucible is the Twitch owner’s first big stride into game software, as part of what is said to be an investment of “hundreds of millions of dollars” into game creation.
In a statement, Amazon Games said it would continue to follow the roadmap it laid out in a previous update, and work on implementing map, combat, and game system changes in the Heart of the Hives mode.
“For the most part, your experience as a Crucible player will stay pretty much the same while we’re in beta,” it said. “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.”
Last month Amazon retired two of Crucible’s three game modes and delayed its first season indefinitely.