Robocraft 2 developer Freejam has announced that ongoing development on the game is no longer sustainable, and that the studio itself will also be closing its doors and sunsetting its other titles.
In a message on Robocraft's official Discord server, Freejam's Rawxas says that "the current market conditions and the server costs required" to keep Robocraft 2 running mean that the studio is unable to launch the game's 1.0 version or continue development.
As such, Freejam says it'll spend "some time" sunsetting Robocraft 2, as well as its predecessor, "over the coming weeks". The studio's cardboard survival game CardLife will also be sunsetted along with the two Robocraft games.
The dismantling of Freejam's work has already begun; it's no longer possible to buy Robocraft 2 on the Steam store, although the original game, which is free-to-play, remains available, as does CardLife (at time of writing).
It may also not come as a surprise that Robocraft 2 is being sunsetted if you've played the game; it's currently sitting at a Mostly Negative review rating on Steam, with 1,760 players weighing in with their opinions.
Some negative reviews point to technical issues like an inability to log in or difficulty getting the game to run on certain platforms, but others offer more in-depth critiques of the game, suggesting it's failed to strike the same kind of chord that the original Robocraft did.
If you're wondering exactly what Robocraft 2 is (or was), it's an online-focused vehicular combat game in which you can create and deploy your own custom-created vehicles. Freejam says its game's "construction systems" allow players to create "a multitude of shapes at any scale".
Freejam's shutdown and Robocraft 2's sunsetting come at a time when several companies are downsizing or outright closing down, with both bigger and smaller studios being affected by the downturn.
Just this week, Suicide Squad developer Rocksteady was reported to have laid off a number of its staff at the end of last year, and other companies such as Thunderful, Don't Nod, and many others have also been hit by layoffs.
Bigger companies like Microsoft and Sony have been affected too, although that hasn't stopped the C-suites at these companies raking in frankly embarrassing amounts of money while they hemorrhage staff.
