The current team at Improbable announced late last week that the Early Access release of Scavengers on Steam and the Epic Games Store would be shutting down on December 16th. The game was removed from Steam on the same day but appears to still be available on the Epic Games Store. The invite-only alpha versions of the game for PlayStation and Xbox platforms were apparently retired earlier this year.
We have been quiet for a while now, and firstly we just want to apologize for that. We have an update for Scavengers but it is one that we share with a heavy heart. We have made the difficult decision to shut the game down on December 16, 2022. The last few months have seen a decline in the playerbase, and whilst we explored many options to reinvigorate server population while the game is in early access, it became clear that it was unsustainable to continue development and live service. We’re all proud of what we accomplished, and are grateful to every player who took the time to play, even if it was just for a short while.
From the very start of development, we wanted to create a unique, team-focused strategic online shooter experience that we built alongside our community. Your passion, dedication and support for Scavengers has been nothing short of extraordinary. We thank you for taking this journey with us.
Before we bid farewell to Cascade Springs, we wanted to spend the next few weeks celebrating your time with us.
We hope you can join us in the snow to give Scavengers the thrilling sendoff it deserves. Finally, it’s for us to say thank you to the team, our partners, and everyone else who has supported us along the way. We look forward to updating you all on what’s next for Improbable, and we hope you’ll join us wherever that journey takes us next. But for now…
Scavengers Announcement – November 10, 2022
While counts had slid below 100 active daily players on Steam earlier this year, the decision to shut down the game is more directly related to Improbable’s pivot into creating for the metaverse. Just after Scavengers launched in Early Access the company sold its development studio, Midwinter Entertainment, to Behaviour Interactive. As Herman Narula, CEO and co-founder of Improbable, stated in a press release on the acquisition, “as part of our announced focus on the metaverse Improbable announced the divestment of its non metaverse focused content teams at the start of the year”.
Unable or unwilling to bring the Scavengers IP over to Behaviour Interactive, the Midwinter Entertainment team has been working on a new unannounced title within the studio. Thanks to everyone who pointed out the news on the shutdown. I’ve added the date to the Watch List calendar and will have a page up on the site later.