Spectre Divide went live in September 2024, and in March 2025, it was announced that the game – and the developer behind the title – would be shutting down. This news came despite the studio securing tens of millions of dollars in investments while being backed by some of the most prolific streamers in the business.
The news shocked everyone involved, even if Spectre Divide wasn’t the first shooter released in 2024 to close down so quickly. Let’s take a closer look at the situation and determine why Spectre Divide is closing down in 2025.
Why Did Spectre Divide Fail?
Spectre Divide was penned as being the next big thing in competitive arena shooters, boasting a unique aesthetic and some innovative mechanics. It was publically backed by Michael ‘shroud’ Grzesiek, one of the biggest streamers and former esports players in the world.
The core USP of Spectre Divide was a ‘duality’ feature that would allow players to split themselves into two bodies, controlling each in real-time.
None of this was enough, as ultimately, Spectre Divide fell down the charts relatively quickly at launch, failing to gain traction and secure a healthy base of users.
In a post on social media, the team at Mountaintop Studios revealed that was why Spectre Divide failed:
Unfortunately, the Season 1 launch hasn’t achieved the level of success we needed to sustain the game and keep Mountaintop afloat.
We were optimistic about the first week. We’ve had ~400,000 players play, with a peak concurrent player count of ~10,000 across all platforms. But as time has gone on, we haven’t seen enough active players and incoming revenue to cover the day-to-day costs of Spectre and the studio.
This is a huge pitfall for free-to-play shooters built around a live-service operating model. If there are no players, there’s nothing to support the studio, and this is something we’re seeing happen increasingly often. Last year, Concord was pulled from stores mere weeks after launch, after failing to secure a meaningful player count.
Was Spectre Divide Bad?
Almost as soon as the game hit the market, people were asking, ‘Is Spectre Divide dying?’ It was an immediate concern for those eager to explore the game, as it looked as though the game was on the rocks from the moment it arrived.
Unfortunately, Spectre Divide was fairly buggy when it was released in September 2024. That kind of thing can cause a game to be DOA, as nobody wants to play a game riddled with glitches – even if it’s free.
It was also determined that the Duality feature was more of a gimmick than anything else and didn’t necessarily add too much to the game’s core makeup.
Many prospective fans of Spectre Divide were also displeased with how Shroud, the game’s main advocate, busied himself with other games like Deadlock and Marvel Rivals, failing to support the game he’d promoted since day one.
Ultimately, this was a masterclass in what not to do when launching a new game, and that’s why Spectre Divide is closing down in 2025.
For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the news that Gray Zone Warfare can officially be called an extraction shooter
Comments