The cycle doesn’t continue after all
After a full year of post-release content updates and three seasons, The Cycle: Frontier is officially coming to an end. YAGER confirmed on Twitter and via The Cycle: Frontier website that the survival looter shooter will be sunset on September 27, 2023.
“Greetings, Prospectors.
Today we sadly have to deliver difficult news that we are sharing with a rather heavy heart.
Despite our best efforts and meaningful improvements brought to the game since launch and up until the release of Season 3, the reality is that The Cycle: Frontier is unfortunately not financially viable.
This brings us to the heartbreaking announcement: The Cycle: Frontier will be sunset on September 27, 2023.
This is a very hard decision for us, but after debating it for a long while, we had to accept this is the best course of action for YAGER.”
The post also highlights the challenges the game faced through development. A primary challenge seemed to be the influx of cheaters plaguing lobbies. By the time the studio implemented a better anti-cheat system, many players had already left over frustration dealing with the cheaters.
Unfortunately, Season Two didn’t generate enough returning players. A decision was made to rework some key systems of the game with Season Three to allow more persistence moving forward. Sadly, Season Three also failed to reach the required metrics to make the came financially stable, leading to the decision.
A few changes to the game before the end
In an effort to make the final months on Fortuna III memorable, Yager will be implementing a handful of changes:
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You will not be able to spend money on The Cycle: Frontier before the servers close. It’s are also removing our bundles and Aurum packs from Steam and the Epic Games Store.
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On the Epic Games Store, new players will no longer be able to install the game from June 28, 2023. Players who already have The Cycle: Frontier in their Library will still be able to continue playing the game until the end of service on September 27, 2023.
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On Steam, players who don’t yet have the game in their libraries will still be able to install it, and everyone is able to play the game until the end of service on September 27, 2023.
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The Special Offers in the in-game shop will still rotate daily and weekly but every item will receive a 95% discount or more.
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The Premium version of Season 3’s Fortuna Pass will be granted to everyone for free upon login. Levels can still be skipped but at a discounted price.
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Progression will be “faster than ever.”
Specific details can be found in the new patch notes. Yager will also be offering refunds for all purchases made in the past 14 days.
I enjoyed almost 100 hours of The Cycle: Frontier. In my head, it was a sci-fi version of Escape from Tarkov, which made the formula more appealing to me. The premise of factions battling over the treasures of Fortuna III made me hopeful for the future of the game. Sadly, I was one of those people who quit when the cheating was a big a problem, and never got around to giving the game another try.
