If anyone was following this fiasco, they basically launched Dauntless on Steam with a major update that completely wrecked the game and removed much of its content. Dauntless was already struggling and went in weird directions during development but this was the final nail in the coffin, and the company seems to have totally gone under.

Source: https://reddit.com/r/dauntless/comments/1ibfvaq/studio_update/

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[–] Shadow@lemmy.ca 96 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (3 children)

Fuck Forte.

Phoenix was the best place I'd ever worked until they came along. Fucking bitcoin bros destroyed everything because they didn't understand the games industry.

[–] simple@lemm.ee 25 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Woah, you worked there? Got any stories on how things went down?

[–] Shadow@lemmy.ca 53 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Many. Unfortunately I also can't talk about them, yet.

[–] simple@lemm.ee 24 points 3 days ago

That sucks, I hope you're doing alright after the layoffs. Hopefully things improve in this industry...

[–] sosodev@lemmy.world 17 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

You can blame crypto bros but the original owners sold out. Once a studio has been swallowed up by a conglomerate it is only a matter of time before it turns to shit.

The owners might have had no choice though because they took a ton of venture capital funding.

I’ve realized that it’s best to just avoid any company that takes VC because they will inevitably fuck everyone over.

[–] Shadow@lemmy.ca 25 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I wish I could get more into this, but yes there were some major missteps during the covid/post-covid "stocks are crazy high, money is free!" period. After that there just wasn't really a way to recover.

Unfortunately it's pretty hard to avoid VC money, the tech industry runs on it.

[–] sosodev@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago

It’s hard but not impossible. You’ll make less money but have much more stability.

After multiple layoffs I started freelancing. The autonomy and multiple streams of income has been great for my mental health.

[–] electric@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago

I think the issue is more that VC's prioritize draining money out of what they acquire instead of continuing with what works for longer term gains.

[–] electric@lemmy.world 12 points 3 days ago

If you worked on Dauntless, just want to say I appreciate your part! Only played it for a while at release because the grind turned me off but it's been sad seeing news pop up of how it has been going downhill. Was such a fun game.

Sucks that good game devs get laid off because the leaders are asleep at the wheel unless it involves monetization.

[–] ampersandrew@lemmy.world 20 points 3 days ago (3 children)

It's a shame, because I liked it more than Monster Hunter, but it's always online, so it's inevitable that eventually it stops making money, and the next step is that it disappears forever.

[–] MarcomachtKuchen@feddit.org 13 points 3 days ago

That's the point where I link the stop killing games initiative which tackles that exact issue.

https://www.stopkillinggames.com/

[–] wirelesswire@lemmy.zip 5 points 3 days ago (2 children)

I tried it at one point before trying any Monster Hunter games, and I found it really boring. I was legitimately getting drowsy when fighting the second monster and found it much easier to just chug a potion, rather than try to dodge its attacks. Monster Hunter World, on the other hand, was exhilarating from the first large monster you hunt. So... did Dauntless get better as you progressed?

[–] ampersandrew@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

It just got into the core fight, upgrade, fight loop way faster, without any of the tedious mechanics that I didn't like from Monster Hunter, that I find boring. I played right around its launch on Epic, so who's to say if we even played the same game, with the way these games can change over time?

[–] Infynis@midwest.social 3 points 3 days ago

I played it back when it was free before Monster Hunter Worlds came out, and it was great then!

[–] Hyphlosion@lemm.ee 1 points 3 days ago

Sorry you were downvoted for having an opinion.

[–] simple@lemm.ee 3 points 3 days ago

I played it on release and it was a fun time with friends. A few years back Phoenix Labs was bought out by another company, and it was all downhill from there. It really is a shame, Dauntless was a neat game.

[–] SmarfDurden@lemmy.world 7 points 3 days ago

Not really surprising after they destroyed what was left of the game and its community with the most recent update. I'm really not sure why anyone thought that was a good idea

[–] hedgehogging_the_bed@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I played Dauntless hardcore in the beta. My team and I really enjoyed it and it was going to great but it went to Epic we never gave it another thought. A real pity because the combat was fun. IDK how it evolved but the chainblade started out really enjoyable.