Harmony is formally lifeless. In an official assertion launched at the moment on PlayStation’s weblog, the corporate has introduced that its just lately launched multiplayer shooter can be taken offline after simply two weeks of service.
The choice comes after a disastrous launch for the sport, which launched August 23 on PlayStation 5 and PC to principally constructive opinions however a middling participant depend. On Steam, the PC model of the sport peaked at an all-time excessive of solely 697 gamers on its launch day — a quantity so low, it’s dwarfed every day by many video games launched a long time in the past. As of reporting, there are solely 28 gamers actively enjoying the sport on Steam, with a 24-hour peak of 110.
Within the weblog submit, the sport’s director Ryan Ellis confirms that Harmony will go offline on Sept. 6 and can now not be accessible to buy as of at the moment, Sept. 3, acknowledging that the sport’s efficiency failed to satisfy expectations.
“[While] many qualities of the expertise resonated with gamers, we additionally acknowledge that different elements of the sport and our preliminary launch didn’t land the way in which we’d meant,” the submit says. “Due to this fact, presently, we now have determined to take the sport offline starting September 6, 2024, and discover choices, together with these that can higher attain our gamers.”
The weblog submit additionally confirms that anybody who bought the sport digitally can be eligible to obtain a refund, though anybody who bought a bodily model on disc might want to undergo the refund technique of their particular retailer.
The scenario is a significant blow for Sony whose different massive multiplayer sport of the yr, Helldivers 2, noticed viral success on-line after releasing in February. Many had puzzled if Harmony may stay as much as the lofty gross sales and participant depend of Helldivers 2, however the response was in the end extra tepid.
Developed by Firewalk Studios, Harmony was rumored to have been in manufacturing for upwards of eight years, making the choice to drag the plug stunning regardless of its failure. Meant as a giant franchise for Sony, the sport was receiving common updates for its first two weeks, together with new, totally motion-captured cinematic cutscenes to be added weekly. Whereas it resembles different multiplayer shooters like Overwatch 2 superficially, the massive funds scope of the sport and the formidable plans for its future content material rollout had been not like something seen beforehand in its style.
Though the sport is being pulled from storefronts and its servers are going offline, Sony and its builders stay obscure about its future. Might Harmony return in one other kind? There’s a risk that it may come again as a free-to-play sport, very similar to Bungie’s Future 2, one other aggressive multiplayer shooter that noticed a stagnant post-launch reception however discovered its viewers after being reworked as F2P.
However for now, followers of the sport could have lower than every week to say goodbye. Farewell, Harmony, we hardly knew thee.
