Spectre Divide shutting down six months after launch reminds us how hard it is to make a live-service game

Crikey, it's still looking rough out there in the industry at the moment, isn't it folks? Yesterday unfortunately brought the news that another online game is shutting down, with the studio alongside it. In this version of the story that we've heard all too often recently, it's Spectre Divide, a tactical free-to-play first-person shooter whose whole gimmick is that you control your own character and a clone, allowing you to switch between them on the fly. It was certainly a fresh take on the genre, but our former reviews editor Ed did wonder if that was enough to set it apart from Valorant or Counter Strike. As evidenced by developer Mountaintop Studios' imminent closure only six months after the game launched, it was not. Read more

Mar 13, 2025 - 17:01
 0
Spectre Divide shutting down six months after launch reminds us how hard it is to make a live-service game

Crikey, it's still looking rough out there in the industry at the moment, isn't it folks? Yesterday unfortunately brought the news that another online game is shutting down, with the studio alongside it. In this version of the story that we've heard all too often recently, it's Spectre Divide, a tactical free-to-play first-person shooter whose whole gimmick is that you control your own character and a clone, allowing you to switch between them on the fly.

It was certainly a fresh take on the genre, but our former reviews editor Ed did wonder if that was enough to set it apart from Valorant or Counter Strike. As evidenced by developer Mountaintop Studios' imminent closure only six months after the game launched, it was not.

Read more