For a long time, the popular series “Monster Hunter” could not be played on PC, PS4, and Xbox One, but that changed in 2018 with Monster Hunter World. The studio Phoenix Labs recognized the gap in 2016 and wanted to offer an alternative with the MMO Dauntless. In the meantime, the company is fighting for its existence. Even Fae Farm (Steam) could not bring the hoped-for turnaround.
That was the situation for a long time:
- The “Monster Hunter” series was huge in Asia and on handheld consoles, but for many years there was no version in the West for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
- The studio Phoenix Labs saw an opportunity here and developed “Dauntless” as an alternative for Monster Hunter fans who wanted to hunt monsters on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation. The game was announced in December 2016, went into beta for PC in May 2018, and was released for consoles in 2019.
- The problem: With Monster Hunter World, exactly this idea was already released by Capcom in 2018 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One, taking all the wind out of Dauntless’s sails.
Studio lays off employees, is on the verge of closure
This is the consequence: Although Phoenix Labs has tried a lot to make Dauntless a hit and has done good work over the years, the game has never managed to create a real hype.
Even a second game, Fae Farm, could not gather the necessary players.
It has now been revealed that Phoenix Labs has laid off employees and halted the development of several unannounced games.
It is not entirely clear how many employees were laid off. One source mentions 100 employees, while another claims up to 200.
Now they want to focus on the live service of Dauntless and Fae Farm.
The company states that this is the “last chance for Phoenix Labs to survive.”
Studio worked 5 years on new game, wanted to reveal it in June
What is the reason for this? Developers say that Phoenix Labs was taken over in 2023 by the blockchain company Forte, which has now made this decision.
Particularly bitter: Apparently, Phoenix Labs worked for 5 years on a game that they wanted to present in June 2024. This will no longer happen.
This is behind it: Phoenix Labs seems like an unfortunate studio that did many things right but was simply overwhelmed by circumstances.
The hype around Dauntless was initially great but ended abruptly with the announcement of Monster Hunter World.
Fae Farm is also described as a good game, but currently has only 177 average players on Steam.
Anyone looking to go monster hunting now can check out Dauntless, or they will have to wait a bit longer since Capcom is planning the next monster hunt: Capcom is likely bringing something like Monster Hunter World 2: With open world, everything sounds fantastic.
