Not every game successfully transitions from “Early Access” to a full release.
Last year, the survival shooter STRIDEN debuted on PC via Steam in “Early Access.” Players formed teams, battled in an open world, earned points, and aimed for successful evacuation.
Recently, STRIDEN’s developers announced the cessation of project support. They failed to retain the player base, and a cyberattack led to unplanned financial losses:
“We foresaw such a turn of events early on after the Early Access launch when we lost many players shortly thereafter. We gained valuable experience and could endlessly discuss what should have been done differently. Unfortunately, a substantial portion of our resources was spent on unforeseen needs not included in the budget. This involved fixing internal and external issues after our studio became the target of a cyberattack during the Early Access phase, as well as combating cheaters who kicked players from servers and spread racist messages in chat.”
Ultimately, most of STRIDEN’s funds and efforts were directed towards restoring infrastructure and creating new security systems for both the studio and the game itself. These resources, according to the developers, could have been utilized for further refining the shooter and developing new content.
STRIDEN’s servers are planned to cease operation by the end of April, and the game will be removed from the Steam catalog.
The developers also reported that the police have made progress in their investigation of the cyberattack.