Amazon cancels Crucible AAA game months after return to closed beta

Crucible, Amazon's first AAA game, has been canceled, the team behind development announced on Friday. The surprising revelation follows a rocky history for the game, which was announced back in 2016 and most recently sent back into a closed beta. Players still have a bit of time to enjoy the game before Amazon disables the game servers, bringing the project to a final close.

The Crucible team offered their final developer update on Friday, stating that the 'polish' promised earlier this summer with the game's return to closed beta simply won't be enough. According to the team, all of the new features shared in the previous game roadmap have been completed, with one exception.

That exception is custom games, which the team plans to release in 'coming days,' marking the successful completion of the promised work. However, the developer explains that when it came time to evaluate feedback from beta players and look into the data on gameplay, a 'difficult decision' had to be made: the game will not be proceeding forward.

The development team explained:

We very much appreciate the way that our fans have rallied around our efforts, and we've loved seeing your responses to the changes we've made over the last few months, but ultimately we didn't see a healthy, sustainable future ahead of Crucible.

If you made any in-game purchases in Crucible, Amazon says you'll be refunded that money; as expected, the ability to buy things in the game is being disabled. As for the game's final days, the Crucible team says players can expect a final playtest and 'community celebration' in 'the next few weeks.' The custom games feature will enable players to still play the game until November 9.