The creator of successful online shooter Warframe has pulled the rug from under its next title.
“After many discussions internally on the state of The Amazing Eternals, we have decided to hit the pause button on development at this time,” a Digital Extremes statement confirmed. “This decision didn’t come lightly. We worked hard to make a game that we are proud to say was shaping up to have great potential.
“However, we took an honest look at the current gaming landscape and how the game was performing in Closed Beta. Unfortunately, the game wasn’t attracting players fast enough to support a viable matchmaking player base with the current game design direction, which is the lifeblood of this type of game. So, with heavy hearts, we’re taking a step back to reevaluate the design and may revisit our intrepid heroes in the future.”
Developers working on the game will be integrated into the Warframe team.
The Amazing Eternals’ servers will be turned off on November 2nd. The studio said that players who paid into the Founders Program will have their money refunded within the next week. The forums and Discord will apparently remain active indefinitely.
The game was announced last spring and only received its official name in August. It was to be a free-to-play multiplayer “hero shooter”. Early footage had a whiff of Overwatch about it, but it certainly boasted its own style, leaning into a 1960/70s aesthetic. It also integrated a deck-building element to its strategy.
The first details of the game appeared online after a Canadian gamer was able to masquerade as a Digital Extremes developer and freely wonder about its HQ.
“They told me they were working on a new game called Keystone [as was its codename at the time],” it was reported. “They said it was a FPS with cards (like Magic the Gathering style perhaps) but didn’t explain that much about it.
“There were no security guards and no one asked me who I was. They just assumed I belonged there and told me about their secret game. At 6pm people started leaving so I just followed them out and the one guy said ‘See you tomorrow’ so I agreed.”