What Happened to Spectre Divide? Shroud-Supported Shooter Shuts Down
- Specter Divide is shutting down soon.
- Refund details are out in the wild.
- Shroud's involvement in the game had mixed results.
In what has become an unfortunate but predictable trend in the live-service market, Specter Divide is shutting down less than a month after officially launching its first season of content.
In an update shared by developer Mountaintop Studios on March 12, CEO Nate Mitchell confirmed that its “fresh take on the tactical shooter genre” will be going offline, and the studio itself will be shutting down in the coming weeks.
When is Spectre Divide Going Offline?
Spectre Divide will go offline at some point before the end of April. The team does not have a definitive time for when servers will shut down as of the announcement, though Mitchell did state on March 12 it was expected to happen “within the next 30 days.”
A message from our CEO about the future of Spectre Divide and Mountaintop Studios. pic.twitter.com/sk18NIgman
— Spectre Divide (@SpectreDivide) March 12, 2025
Mountaintop Studios will be shutting down on March 14.
This comes just six months after the Spectre Divide officially launched on PC and less than two weeks after the game released on console with its first full season of content, Flashpoint.
Can Spectre Divide be Played After Going Offline?
When Spectre Divide is taken offline, all servers will be closed, and the game will be delisted from all storefronts. This means the game will be entirely unplayable.
And since Mountaintop is also closing, there is very little chance any part of the game will be moved to community-hosted servers.
Will Spectre Divide Offer Refunds After Shutting Down?
Mountaintop has confirmed that all purchases made on any platform since Spectre Divide Season 1 launched at 9am PT on Feb. 25 will be automatically refunded across all platforms. More updates on these refunds will be shared in the coming days.
Purchases for additional content are already being disabled for the game on all platforms, though players will still be able to use any purchased items until the game shuts down.
Why is Spectre Divide Shutting Down?
According to Mitchell, the game failed to achieve a “level of success we needed to sustain the game and keep Mountaintop afloat.”
Spectre Divide has reached more than 400,000 players since it launched on Sept. 3 and had a concurrent peak of 10,000 players across all platforms but was not maintaining high enough peaks or incoming revenue as the team fought to keep the project alive.
Mitchell notes that Mountaintop tried to find a publishing partner, additional investment, and even someone to acquire the game/studio prior to this decision.
“This has always been a passion project for us, born out of love for this genre. An indie team of insanely talented individuals who came together from around the world to build a game we believed in,” Mitchell said. “We wanted to deliver something innovative and original in a crowded genre that would bring friends together around unforgettable moments. We shook up the format, created a fresh art style and universe, and partnered with some of our heroes. All of us knew from the beginning that the odds were against us, but that's what we signed up for. It was never a surefire bet. We did it anyway.”
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How Was Shroud Involved with Spectre Divide?
Shroud was actively involved in the development of Spectre Divide, though he did not own the game or have control over its features. He was listed as the “lead gameplay advisor” in an official video and had ongoing involvement with the project through at least October.
“He’s been helping us think through ways to make Spectre as compelling as possible for both community members and streamers,” Mitchell said via IGN. “The reality is that Mountaintop has been bringing Spectre to life since 2020, and the game belongs to Mountaintop.”
The reason so many people tie Spectre Divide to shroud is that the streamer not only worked on the game alongside Mountaintop throughout its development but also heavily promoted it on his streams, socials, and other channels. He is also listed among several other key investors for the game alongside names like tarik, iiTzTimmy, Sacriel, CohhCarnage, Zedd, and even NBA star Paul George.
However, since the Spectre Divide’s launch, the streamer has seemingly distanced himself from the project.
Just looking at that September 2024 launch window, shroud streamed 102 hours of Deadlock and only 35 hours of Spectre Divide, which is also the last time he played the game live, according to SullyGnome. That is a fraction of the time he has played Marvel Rivals and less than Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Deadlock, VALORANT, and Counter-Strike 2.
Related Article: Shroud's Spectre Divide Hits All Time Low in Peak Players
“It hurt deeply when it became clear that our initial PC launch simply wasn't good enough to make that magic real to a large audience. We knew it was had a long way to go and I wish we could have done more to communicate transparently at the time.” Spectre Divide community manager Ben Rodrian said on Twitter. “It hurt a lot more to see what was special about the game get totally overshadowed by other narratives. It kills me that so many people will never know of Spectre as anything more than 'Shroud's Game.'”
Rodrian goes on to list dozens of people who poured their all into making Spectre Divide a game that Mountaintop could be proud of.
“It was a game that changed my life,” Rodrian said. “I feel bad for each and every person only ever got to know it as 'Shroud's Game.’ They were never given the chance to see what I got to see. The most painful part of this whole process is knowing that our game will soon be gone.”
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