Summary

  • Synced, a futuristic co-op shooter, launched in late 2023 and will be shutting down on September 9, 2024 after poor player retention.
  • Live-service games like Synced can be expensive to maintain and if player base drops significantly, developers may have to pull the plug.
  • The live-service genre is highly competitive.

Team-based co-op shooter Synced has received a notice for the termination of play after just a year of being out. Published by Level Infinite, Synced launched in late 2023, and in just a few months will have its servers shut down exactly one year since its release.

Synced is a futuristic co-op shooter developed by NExT Studios and published by Level Infinite, the global games brand for Tencent. Players can team up in this free-to-play title to battle against hordes of Nanos in a PvE mode, or wage war against each other in PvP matches. It employs a live-service model, and upon launch the game did see a modicum of success, peaking at over 10,000 concurrent players on Steam. These numbers didn't stay, however, and player retention dropped considerably over time. Given how the game has not received an update since March, it's safe to say that the writing has been on the wall for Synced for a while.

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An announcement was put out on the game's Steam page, thanking those who are playing Synced, but announcing that the game will be retiring come September 9, 2024. Level Infinite does not explain as to the reason for this, but it's plain to see from the game reviews and charts that poor performance is the culprit. The live-service game genre is a heavily competitive corner of the market, and live-service games being expensive to maintain over long periods for developers. If the player base drops off like what appears to have happened with Synced, there isn't much that developers can do besides pull the plug and try to cut their losses.

When is Synced Shutting Down

  • Synced Shut Down Date: September 9, 2024

Synced is not the first live-service game to fall significantly short of expectations, nor will it be the last. The tale of Synced rings bells similar to Babylon's Fall, a live-service game with Platinum Games and Square Enix at the helm. Much like Synced, the game was released with high hopes, given the teams behind it, but upon launch, it peaked at a mere 1,188 concurrent players. The game ran on fumes for a while until, much like Synced, the services for Babylon Falls were terminated just under a year after the game's launch.

The live-service genre can prosper when done properly, however. It's a competitive genre for a reason, and success can be found if developers find the right audience. The recent success of Nexon Game's The First Descendent is a testament to this. As for Synced, it is doomed to be lost to time when the game servers fully shut down on September 9, 2024.