The servers for Sony’s well received PSVR shooter Starblood Arena are shutting down on 25th July 2019. It seems that despite being given away as a free bonus game on PlayStation Plus a while ago it has failed to attract an audience.
As the game is online only when the servers shut the game is rendered unplayable. Unfortunately we predicted the shut down in our review.
As we saw with RIGS and how Sony abruptly axed its life support, the same could very well happen to StarBlood Arena and that’s a bloody shame. I want this game to do well, I really do, but as a multiplayer VR title with a non-existent server population and an exorbitant price tag, it’s fighting an impossible fight.
Source: PlayStation
TSBonyman
Yeah, on the one hand i commend them for providing a multiplayer VR experience but they were always going to be up against the odds with such a relatively low user base. It’s a shame but newer and possibly more compelling mp PSVR games have drawn the players away too. Hope it doesn’t put them off entirely and that they can use what they’ve learned to return stronger next time.
Foundation
I never understood why they would make multiplayer only games so early on in the PSVR lifecycle, when there are not enough players to keep the game going. Especially for games that have a large potential to cause motion sickness. They really need to add something to bring in single player gamers, who might venture online later. Otherwise its an uphill battle from day one. I hope the developers are able to move onto something else more fruitful though!
MrYd
Big post on Reddit from the developer…
https://www.reddit.com/r/PSVR/comments/alamco/starblood_arena_the_six_month_goodbye/
Basically just saying Sony shut it down and they’d have liked the chance to pay for the servers themselves, but Sony own the IP so they can’t.
But also saying don’t hate Sony for it as it wouldn’t have happened in the first place without them. Lots of nice things to say about Sony and some other VR people there.
Also answers the question of “why they would make multiplayer only games”. Sounds like it’s just what they wanted to do, and Sony supported that. And people doing that should be encouraged, even if it’s going to end up being short lived because the limited audience moves on to the next MP game.
Foundation
Thanks for the link!