Theorycraft Games shutting down Supervive just five months after 1.0 launch

The brutal reality of the live-service market has claimed another victim. Theorycraft Games, the studio founded by former ex-Riot Games developers, has announced that it will permanently close the servers for its debut title, Supervive, on February 25th, 2026. The decision comes less than half a year after the game officially left beta.

When Supervive was first unveiled in 2024, it carried significant expectations. The project was directed by industry veterans such as Joe Tung, a former executive VP at Riot Games, and promised to mix the strategic depth of a MOBA with the tension of a battle royale. However, despite a promising “open prototyping” phase and a 1.0 launch in July 2025, the game failed to maintain an audience.

In a FAQ released alongside the announcement, the development team explained that while they were proud of the mechanical systems they had built, the title could not hold player attention. Executive Producer Jenn Nam expanded on this, noting that while “a huge number” of users had downloaded and tried Supervive, the majority abandoned the game after only a short period. This left the studio with a low active user base. As seen on SteamDB, the concurrent player count has been peaking at 400, a figure that makes ongoing maintenance and server costs financially unviable.

Nam indicated that the studio will use this experience to change its development strategy moving forward. Future projects are expected to aim for a scope that falls “between independent and AAA,” suggesting a move away from the live-service model. The studio warned that it expects to “go dark” for an extended period while prototyping these new concepts.

For the remaining community, the end is now in sight. Supervive will remain playable until the servers go offline on February 25th, 2026. Theorycraft has disabled all real-money transactions effective immediately and is offering full refunds for any purchases made since September 16th. Although development has ceased, a final patch was deployed yesterday, introducing a new game mode, various bug fixes, and a final cosmetic bundle, which is being distributed to all players for free as a parting gift.

KitGuru says: The MOBA and Battle Royale markets are tough, and maintaining a live-service game with only a few hundred players is simply impossible. Hopefully, the team can learn from this experience and create a more sustainable project in the future.

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