The PvPvE extraction shooter The Cycle: Frontier will be closing its servers later this year. Folks at Yager Development Studios announced that the game will sunset on September 27.
What Happened?
The company revealed that The Cycle: Frontier is shutting down later this year because it is no longer financially viable. But the biggest reason for its demise is the prevalence of cheaters.
According to the dev team, shortly after the game's launch in June of last year, the game suffered from an increasing number of cheaters. Despite the team's efforts in thwarting them, the damage had already been done, resulting in a massive decline in player count.
The game's second season didn't generate enough interest either, so the team went back to the drawing board. After some deliberation, they've decided to do away with global mandatory wipes in Season 3. Not only that, but they introduced free loadout runs, loadout presets, and even some improvements to the onboarding experience as well. Even though there was an increase in the number of players after these features were implemented, it was still not enough to make The Cycle: Frontier financially viable.
Thus, with a heavy heart, the team decided to permanently shut the game down on September 27, 2023.
So, What Now?
You can no longer purchase item bundles and Aurum packs sold on Steam and Epic Games Store before the servers close. On top of that, the game is no longer downloadable on EGS, though if you already have it in your library, you can still play it until the end of service. If you're on Steam, you can still install and play the game until September 27.
To help you enjoy the remaining days of The Cycle: Frontier, all items in the in-game shop are sold at a 95% discount or more. Furthermore, the premium Fortuna Pass for Season 3 is granted to everyone for free.
While Yager Development Studio is issuing refunds, it only applies to those who have purchased stuff from June 14, 2023, at 3 am EDT. If you bought anything before June 14, you cannot get a refund for it.
Community Reaction
Understandably, The Cycle: Frontier community is not happy about the announcement. One Redditor said that they played 60 to 70 hours each season and enjoyed the game from the very beginning. They added that the game could have been something special, but it was plagued with a myriad of issues, such as rampant cheating, lack of weapon diversity, and balancing problems, among other things.
Another user expressed their disappointment, saying that they spent more than 2,000 hours on the game and had purchased premium items and season passes for all three seasons just to support it in any way they could. Despite their best efforts, however, the game still failed to succeed.
While most people were disappointed about the news, one very passionate player is really angry at Yager Development Studio. They said that they've poured their heart into this game and defended it even at its worst points, and yet, the company seems to not care about its community at all.
Do you play The Cycle: Frontier? What is your reaction about the upcoming shut down this year?
