Alas, here arrives yet another story of failed game development. While Dawngate may have changed up the MOBA formula in a variety of ways, there just wasn't enough to combat the likes of League of Legends and other major titles in the genre arena. This is all the more saddening, considering that Dawngate had made it all the way to the beta testing stage. Though, we understand why Waystone Games, who developed Dawngate, has chosen to stop development on the game. Most of the support in a MOBA comes after its initial release, with new characters and such being added to the game over time. If Waystone Games was having a hard time now, the cost of development would have likely only risen from here on out.
Matt Bromberg, Group General Manager at Waystone Games, announced this news via their official website:
"Today, I have the unenviable task of announcing that we’ve decided to stop development of Dawngate.
I know this is disappointing news for our community, which has been so supportive and loyal. To all of you who have graciously given us your time and valuable feedback during our beta period, we’d first like to thank you.
Whenever we begin a game project, we do so with great hopes and expectations. In this case, we chose to enter a new genre for EA in MOBA, one that we knew going in was extremely competitive. We built a game in Dawngate that wasn’t simply a clone of existing MOBAs, but one that truly pushed the genre forward in many ways. Dawngate has been in beta for almost 18 months, including a full open beta for the past six months. Through that time, we’ve taken a lot of feedback from players and delivered lots of new features and innovations. And although the game has grown, we’re not seeing the progress we’d hoped for. This isn’t the outcome we wanted, but beta testing is about learning and improving, and ultimately, about making difficult decisions about how to proceed.
As for the incredibly talented team of designers, producers, engineers, and artists who have put so much creative energy into Dawngate: The game was truly a labor of love, and it shows. We’ve got nothing but gratitude for their hard work, and pride about what’s been accomplished.
As a part of the process of closing down Dawngate, we’ll continue to operate the game for the next 90 days. All players will be entitled to a full refund of any money spent during the beta. For most players, we’ll process those refunds within the next 10 days. If we don’t have current payment information on file for you, we’ll need to reach out first before initiating the refund. If you have any questions, you can reach us at help.ea.com.
On behalf of the entire team at Waystone Games and EA, I want once again to thank all our players for being part of this journey. Your straight-up feedback and the friendly reception we received all over the world at events was extremely encouraging and important to us. We appreciate it."
Let us take a moment of silence for the fallen MOBA.
