Just a few months after the official launch of Deathverse: Let It Die, the melee-focused battle royale spinoff of Grasshopper Manufacture’s Let It Die, the developers announced they’re taking it offline. That “suspension of service” will happen in July, but the folks behind the free-to-play Deathverse say they’re not giving up on it — they plan to “redevelop” the game and re-release it “with significant improvements.”
On the game’s official website, developer Supertrick Games and publisher GungHo Online Entertainment told players:
There is no doubt that we experienced some challenges since the launch of our game, particularly with regards to in-game matchmaking and lag. We deeply apologize for these issues that may have caused an inconvenience to our players. While we have tried various solutions to some degree of success, we have not been able to resolve the underlying problems. As a result, the development and operations teams have made the decision to temporarily suspend the game’s services while we redevelop Deathverse: Let It Die.
Deathverse: Let It Die will go offline on July 18. The developer will stop selling Death Metal, an in-game currency, on Feb. 7.
Supertrick and GungHo did not offer a timeline for when Deathverse might return from its redevelopment slumber, but pledged that improvements to the game “will allow it to be enjoyed by a wider audience as well as our current players.”
They added, “We will be doing our utamost to prepare for the re-release so that our current community can enjoy the game alongside many more new players in the future.”
Deathverse: Let It Die officially launched on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Windows PC last fall, after a lengthy delay and a beta test. The game was met with mixed reviews on Steam, with players citing long queue times, a limited amount of content, and an overall lack of polish.
There have been few examples of a live service game going offline and then returning to any level of success. Amazon Games tried with Crucible, reverting that game from an official full release to a closed beta, but ultimately canceling it. Ubisoft similarly tried to rehabilitate its futuristic battle royale Hyper Scape, only to pull the plug on the game last April.