Quantic Dream has pulled the plug on its live service game, Spellcasters Chronicles, just three months after its early access launch.
The French game company released MOBA Spellcasters Chronicles as its first ever free-to-play game in February. The game struggled to gain a player base and received a “mixed” user review rating on Steam. According to SteamDB, it peaked with 888 concurrent players at launch, but had a 24-hour peak of just 54. Rather than continuing the early access period to 1.0, Quantic Dream has decided to shut down Spellcasters Chronicles immediately, signalling layoffs.
Quantic Dream is renowned for its successful single-player, story-driven games, such as Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls, and Detroit: Become Human. Spellcasters Chronicles was a significant departure, focusing on 3v3 MOBA gameplay. Clearly, it hasn’t worked out.
“With Spellcasters Chronicles, Quantic Dream set out to propose a bold and original multiplayer experience. It gave our studio the opportunity to explore new creative territories and experiment with new concepts. However, in today’s particularly challenging market environment, we must acknowledge that the game, in its current form, has not reached a sufficient audience to ensure its long-term sustainability.
“We have consequently made the difficult decision to discontinue the development of Spellcasters Chronicles and to refocus our efforts on our other projects. This decision reflects a disciplined and responsible approach in light of current market conditions. It in no way diminishes the remarkable work accomplished by the teams involved. Their talent, creativity, and dedication have been essential in bringing this ambitious project to life, and we are proud of what has been achieved together.”
Quantic Dream then suggested the studio will suffer a round of layoffs.
“As a result, the studio will undertake an internal reorganization. We are fully committed to ensuring that this transition is handled with fairness, care, and respect. Wherever possible, we will prioritize internal reassignments to support our other productions.”
Quantic Dream told IGN it was unable to share the number of staff affected as the consultation process has only just begun, and must work through the French legal process. Discussions are expected to progress in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, the studio insisted the development of Star Wars Eclipse “is not affected by this decision and continues as planned.”
Announced in 2021 via a flashy cinematic trailer, Star Wars Eclipse has flown under the radar in the years since. Set within the franchise’s High Republic era, Eclipse is expected to integrate Quantic Dreams’ traditional story-based gameplay with an action-adventure game set in the Star Wars universe.
Beyond that, details on what to expect remain thin on the ground, and Quantic Dream has only commented on the project over the past few years to quash rumors of development trouble and delays, amid suggestions that the studio was struggling to hire staff following previous workplace allegations. Star Wars Eclipse is still without a release window.
Spellcasters Chronicles will remain accessible online until June 19, 2026, at which point the servers will be shut down. As a “gesture of respect toward the players who placed their trust in us,” Quantic Dream said all amounts spent during Early Access will be fully refunded upon request.
Spellcasters Chronicles is just the latest live service video game disaster to crash and burn, joining the likes of Sony’s Concord, Warner Bros. Games’ Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, and, most recently, Highguard. Even battle royale behemoth Fortnite has struggled to keep up player interest. Meanwhile, some single-player games have enjoyed enormous relative success, with the likes of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, and Crimson Desert all breaking out.
