Since 2019, the online monster-slaying game Dauntless has offered a free-to-play version of Monster Hunter’s charms, but that’s coming to an end later this year. On February 24, developer Phoenix Labs shared a surprisingly terse announcement on Steam, informing players that the game’s servers are shutting down at the end of May.
“Dauntless is shutting down on May 29, 2025,” Phoenix Labs wrote. “Dauntless will receive no additional content or updates. The game will no longer be available to play on May 29, 2025.”
Dauntless made a good impression after its 2019 launch, which saw it release in early access in May before getting a full release and a Nintendo Switch port later that year. Initially, the game had a lot going for it. Prior to its early access launch, a beta period made it a great Monster Hunter alternative for PC players, since Monster Hunter World had yet to make its way to the platform. The game also featured cross-play and cross-progression across all platforms, at a time when that was very much not the norm. Even after Monster Hunter World stole some of its thunder, Dauntless remained a more approachable version of roughly the same idea, getting players into the action much quicker and requiring a lot less resource management. The fact that it didn’t cost a dime also certainly helped.
Trouble started rearing its head in 2023. That year, Phoenix Labs was acquired by blockchain company Forte Labs, which simultaneously bought another studio called Rumble Games. That wouldn’t actually come to light until 2024, when Game Developer published a report on the acquisitions, in which employees alleged they were required to keep the deal secret.
In May 2024, Forte laid off around 140 Phoenix Labs employees, according to former engineer Kris Morness, and cancelled all of the studio’s unannounced projects, including one that was set to be revealed a month later. Fellow Forte acquisition Rumble Games had it even worse, being shut down entirely by its parent company shortly after the studio’s CEO passed away.
In December, Dauntless finally came to Steam after years as an Epic Games Store exclusive on PC, but its arrival could hardly have gone worse. Alongside the Steam release, Phoenix Labs rolled out sweeping changes to the game. Dubbed Dauntless: Awakening, the update removed the game’s central weapon crafting mechanic, which previously let players turn monster parts earned on hunts into increasingly powerful gear, and fully reset player progression. The update also removed most weapons from the game entirely, and made some only able to be acquired by using currency from a premium battle pass, another controversial addition.
Players were unhappy, to say the least, immediately tanking the game’s Steam rating to Overwhelmingly Negative. Even the game’s original associate producer, Jessie Leigh Gagnon, took to LinkedIn to express her dismay at the direction the game had taken.
If that didn’t make it clear enough that Dauntless was in trouble, its fate seemed to be sealed at the beginning of 2025. In January, Phoenix Labs announced that it was laying off “the majority of the studio,” and said that announcements about the future of Dauntless and its life sim Fae Farm were on the way.
While Dauntless’ closure is a recent announcement, the writing seems to have been on the wall for some time now. Developers have publicly been unsure about whether Forte was actively trying to bring blockchain to Dauntless, but the company did reportedly solicit pitches for how to do that around the time of the acquisition. Dauntless has plenty of fans — I’ve played it off and on since its initial launch — but it wasn’t bringing in the kind of money that its blockchain-focused new owner seemed to want.
Acquisitions in the games industry are never a cause for celebration, as we’ve seen them time and time again result in massive layoffs and studio closures. Phoenix Labs was in an even more precarious position, running a live-service game with a relaxed monetization model and being acquired by a company pushing one of gaming’s most noxious, transparently money-focused trends. Dauntless’ closure and the massive layoffs at Phoenix Labs are as unfortunate as they are predictable, as both fall victim to a games industry increasingly characterized by job losses, canceled projects, and shuttered studios in the pursuit of profits for a shrinking number of companies.
