AMAZON’S first proper game has become unavailable to new players – after being deemed “awful”.
The newly released shooter Crucible is going back to the drawing board, and will no longer be available for download.
Existing players will be able to enjoy a “beta test” version of the game.
But the public release of Crucible has been taken offline indefinitely.
In a statement, Crucible’s Colin Johanson said: “While there’s been a great response to the premise of our game from many players, we’ve also heard the feedback that there are features that we need to add as a top priority, like voice chat.
“We’re excited about the road ahead.
“We’re going to be making a lot of changes based on your feedback, and at the end of this we’ll have built a great game together.”
Reviews of the game were mixed, and early player numbers appear to have been poor.
Popular gaming platform Steam marked very low concurrent players, often in the hundreds shortly after release.
That’s compared to Fortnite, which recently logged 12.3million concurrent players.
Respected games journalist Jason Schreier said: “Amazon’s new game flopped so badly that they’re…un-releasing it?
“I’ve never seen anything like this before. It’s going from released game to closed beta.”
And one disappointed gamer on Twitter replied: “All these Amazon games are so awful.
“Fingers crossed that the [Lord of the Rings] one won’t be the same sort of trash as Crucible and New World.”
Crucible was developed by Amazon Game Studios, and was delayed twice before eventually launching in mid-May 2020.
It’s a third-person team-based shooter set in an apocalyptic sci-fi future.
And it’s hero-based, which is a familiar style of gameplay to anyone who has played Overwatch or League of Legends.
