MMO Firefall Shut Down By Developer Red 5 Studios

Image: Red 5 Studios

The business of massively-multiplayer games is extraordinary tough and outside of a few exceptions, many prove doomed from the outset. Red 5 Studios' sci-fi MMO Firefall lasted longer than most of these contenders, but as of yesterday, it too has bitten the digital dust.

It could be argued the writing was on the wall for Firefall after reports in December last year that Red 5 Studios was struggling to pay its employees.

Combined with plummeting opinions from players, I don't think it came as a massive surprise when the developer posted the closure announcement on Friday:

With heavy hearts, we regret to inform you that after much review and analysis, Red 5 Studios have decided to suspend the Firefall efforts on 7th, July 2017. Thank you for being an important part of the Firefall experience and for your loyalty and dedication to the online community.

The post states that a Firefall mobile title is in the works and "founders and players will be rewarded greatly in the new game", though I imagine that's small consolation for the shuttering of Firefall itself.

Firefall Closure Announcement [Red 5 Studios, via RPS]


    I actually really liked the game, despite its many flaws, and troubled development. I've always wanted a sci-fi/FPS mmo - thankfully Destiny 2 should be able to fill that void. It should be said, that some of the original team are trying to create Firefall's original vision:

    Heard this yesterday, and was more surprised it was still alive. It was dead during the Beta.

    It was development hell and all their promotions on it being the next esport... but they didnt have an idea on how to create a player vs player game or fully flesh it out. Let alone the MMO components contaminated it with the PvE content / grind / crafting that PvE was unbalancing PvP so at the 11th hour they decided to both redo the a majority of the game model (leveling, crafting, classes, itemisation, pvp) and go free-to-play which rolled back the game and added another 2 years of development. It was bad decision after decision

    I played this game for a while. The problem was, it was boring. Just endless grinding for no reason other to grind.

    The first time I played Firefall, I rolled a heavy, jetpacked out to where people were fighting off a horde of bugs on the beach at a thumper, planted my feet and unleashed my chaingun. It was an amazing feeling. I kept on chasing that feeling through years of development, but they never really came through on everything promised. There's only so long you can get by on look and feel, especially when your upgraded heavy machine gun turns into weak-sounding lasers.

    At least I still have a sweet-ass founder's beanie. That I never wear. Because I live in Australia.

    This is actually sad to see. I know the development froze in May 2016, but seeing the game I poured 400+ hours into close is a real bummer.

    Firefall was great up until their last few content patches. Getting end-game gear as a struggle, but that was the deal for all MMO's. Rather then adding more end-game content, they optped to add more mid-tier content that people lost interest in because getting to level 40 took around 25 hours once you had your head screwed on with the game.

    Baneclaw was a struggle to get into unless you had 940+ power (end game levels), and unless you knew how to do it, no one wanted you in. DPS was always sought after, while healers were put on the back burners. Kanaloa was always good to run, and Hard Kana was like bane, dead unless 940+. The only end-game content they had for years was Stronghold (20 man raid, only ever needed level 40), Kana (600 power for normal, at LEAST), and Baneclaw (Nothing under 900). In the end they finally expanded end-game, but it was too late in the process that the main playerbase died off by the time they made a move to it.

    It was really fun to just get on, load up a level that was geared, and just do stronghold, or hard kana because I was near maxed on everything I had. There was no specific character build, just the way you played to their strengths. You could run a DPS self healer, a DPS tank, a tank healer (hardest build imo), or just roll into PvP with a Nighthawk like every other person did and roll some faces for the heck of it.

    If they focused on more end-game content sooner then they did, I'd say the game would still be alive and thriving, but going through 5 larges content patches and only adding in early and mid game content really kicked everyone in the nuts.

    I wish there were private servers for Firefall, I'd still be playing :(

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