I think this might be a first. I can remember games that released with a host of issues, and needed patches to mitigate some major shortcomings. I can even remember cases like Arkham Knight where a launch was so buggy it got temporarily pulled from sale. I can also remember games that have been abandoned not long after launch, like APB: All Points Bulletin. I can also think of early access games that were released as early access and then remained that way indefinitely.
What I can’t think of is any time a game from a major company has been in pre-release closed beta, then been released, then retroactively returned to closed beta status.
But here, Amazon is breaking new ground in mishandling the launch of a video game. They’re making mistakes and misjudging decisions in entirely new and innovative ways, so for that at least I will give them a modicum of credit.
Crucible is a Free to Play online shooter from Amazon-owned game studio Relentless Studios. The house that Bezos built has over the years tried several approaches to getting more directly involved with the world of game development, and this is the latest. We saw their Android-based Fire TV devices get Amazon developed and published games like Sev Zero and To-Fu Fury before they mostly gave up on that endeavor and just fill up their app store with third-party games.
Having originally released to overwhelmingly tepid response back on May 20th, Amazon has made the bizarre decision to un-release Crucible, and wind the clock back to before it had been released. The game has been in development in some form since 2014, so it’s not exactly clear what positive changes a bit more time in the oven might result in, but I’m sure this wasn’t a decision that was taken lightly.
What they have very clearly not done is offer any players refunds for any money they have spent on the game up to this point, which feels like it would be a good way to make up for this game failing to deliver in its current state.
It’s kind of hard to reconcile just how much Amazon dominates in online retail and commercial web services when their gaming ambitions have utterly failed to launch. They are easily one of the biggest game retailers on the planet, but they can’t for whatever reason figure out a way to successfully launch their own games.
This is doubly ironic because we’ve seen other companies use Amazon’s own Twitch streaming platform to great success. Free to play shooters like Apex Legends and Valorant have both demonstrated that with smart use of Twitch, and building relationships with content creators on there, you can indeed bring huge numbers of players to your game. How can Amazon be smart enough to buy Twitch, but not have any strategy for using it to bolster the launches of their games? Twitch is their platform, and the potential for synergy between their game studios and their game live streaming service is obvious to everyone but Amazon.
So what’s the plan going forward? Crucible will likely get some updates that hopefully resonate with current players. I love a redemption arc, but I can’t see how they’ll be able to fully turn it around, at least not without generating some exceptional word of mouth to bring in new players. They’re going to be posting updates to Reddit, Discord, and social media. They do have an official Twitch account for the game but it looks like this:
What a shame.
Maybe the game will be successful in some kind of future incarnation, and maybe this will be part of the bumpy road on the path to success. But maybe not, maybe whoever is making decisions about these games at Amazon doesn’t really know what they are doing. For now, at least however much money is being spent on developing these games is tiny when viewed as part of Amazon’s entire operation. Maybe they’re happy to just keep rolling the dice without taking the time to learn the rules of the game, but this is a bad look that doesn’t inspire confidence.
It does feel like there’s a degree of hubris going into these decisions. Amazon can of course turn on the money hose, and fund any game development project they want. But if there’s no strong vision behind these decisions and no real understanding of what makes a game successful, perhaps we’re likely to see this pattern repeating itself. No doubt Amazon has plenty of talented individuals involved in their game development projects, but clearly something is missing when all the might of the Amazon corporate machine can’t successfully launch a videogame.
Crucible it perhaps fighting an uphill battle against apathy, where Amazon has spent all this time and money developing a game that ultimately people just don’t care about in enough numbers to sustain. All eyes are going to be on their upcoming projects to see if this is a one-off isolated incident, or if it becomes something of a trend. At least here, it’s not a property with any built-in established fanbase that they’ve squandered. It’s going to be very interesting to see how they handle their upcoming Lord of the Rings MMO, scheduled to release alongside their Lord of the Rings TV show. We’ve not seen anything of this MMO yet, but with such a beloved and successful franchise as Lord of the Rings, the stakes will be much higher.