Phoenix Labs has announced that its action RPG, Dauntless, will close its doors for good on May 29, 2025 after nearly seven years in service. From now through that date, the team has revealed that no further additional content or updates will be deployed.
Important update: Dauntless is shutting down on May 29, 2025. Dauntless will receive no additional content or updates.
Dauntless will no longer be available to play on and after May 29, 2025 at 11:45PM PST.
Thanks to all for being a part of the Dauntless journey.
— Dauntless (@PlayDauntless) February 24, 2025
A bit more context
The game’s Discord channel offered a bit of insight into the closure:
“This was not an easy decision, and we want to express our gratitude to our players, partners and the talented developers who brought Dauntless to life. To our community, your passion, creativity, and dedication made Dauntless more than just a game – it became a shared world and a place where friendships were forged. We know there were times we didn’t get it right, but we always strived to give you the best experience we could. We are thankful for your feedback, patience and support over the years.”
For a bit of context, Phoenix Labs was purchased by Forte Labs, a blockchain company, in 2023. In May of 2024, the development team announced that it would no longer continue the development of a second game despite years in development. A round of layoffs followed this. In December 2024, the team released a wildly unpopular update that fundamentally changed nearly every core system in the game. It was so poorly received, in fact, that one of the dev team’s original members who had left the studio blasted it for not being “player-focused.”
Needless to say, a game’s closure is always sad, especially one that had earned itself such a committed community up to the final update in December. Dauntless has always been one of those games on my list, though I’m sad to say that I never got around to playing.
Bon voyage, Dauntless. It was good to know you!
