Last week, players worried that the unexpected success of Fortnite would leave Epic Games’ other big game, Paragon, in the dust. Turns out they were right to worry. Epic will shut down Paragon on April 26 and offer full refunds to every player, the company said today.
“We truly appreciate everything you’ve put into Paragon. We received many passionate ideas for where to take the game; the outpouring of thoughtful suggestions is another testament to this incredible community,” reads a blog post attributed to the Paragon team. “After careful consideration, and many difficult internal debates, we feel there isn’t a clear path for us to grow Paragon into a MOBA that retains enough players to be sustainable. We didn’t execute well enough to deliver on the promise of Paragon. We have failed you – despite the team’s incredibly hard work – and we’re sorry.”
Paragon, which first launched in 2016 as an early access game, was a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) that achieved a moderate amount of success, as well as a lot of love from Kotaku‘s Mike Fahey. It didn’t make much of a splash in a competitive field, though, unlike Fortnite, which has seen millions and millions of players thanks to its free-to-play, 100-player Battle Royale mode.
The writing appeared to be on the wall for Paragon when representatives wrote on Reddit last week that Fortnite had absorbed many of their staff and that they’d “be figuring out if and how we can evolve Paragon to achieve growth and success”.
In order to receive a refund, you can follow the steps on the Paragon website.
Comments
3 responses to “After Fortnite’s Massive Success, Epic Shuts Down Paragon”
Sounds like a smart move – and giving full refunds will ensure the dissapointment of players doesn’t turn into anger.
They’re in fine company. I’d say for every online only PVP only game created, only one in a hundred or more actually manages to endure.
Of course some of them don’t have centralized company-run servers, but allow players to create their own servers meaning those few games can still be resurrected by novelty-seekers or a tiny ember kept alive by devotees.
But games like this?
All that artistry, all that talent, all that imagination, all that effort will be flushed down the toilet, irretrievable.
‘Games as a service.’
Wow, the Paragon team must feel gutted.