Amazon / Getty Images / Sam Machkovech
Less than two months after the formal launch of Amazon Games’ first great PC game on Steam, Melting pot, the company has chosen to remove it from the Steam store. Its developers at Relentless Studios (a subsidiary of Amazon) have announced plans to remove the free-to-play MOBA game from Steam starting tomorrow, July 1, while continuing to operate the game as a “closed beta” for anyone who has already downloaded the game (or paid for one of your cosmetic DLC “founding packs”).
In an announcement on the game’s official site, its developers describe this change as a way to “help us focus on providing the best possible experience for our players.” However, as far as the remaining players are concerned, that guarantee may sound a bit hollow, as its exclusion will likely reduce the pool of available players from its already minuscule population (as of press time, it has only had more than 200 players concurrent once in the past week).
Although the game will continue to launch via Steam, starting at 12 pm on July 1, new players will no longer be able to search for the game and freely download their client. Instead, they’ll have to sign up to play on the official site, where they’ll be waiting for a closed beta invitation. (If you think you will eventually want to play the game and want to save yourself some headaches, head over to Melting potThe Steam list and add it to your library right now.)
Another Action: Does MOBA Bite the Dust?
Arguably, this move is less about helping game developers alter and update game content, and more about changing the way strangers view their small population of gamers. Relentless Studios, the Amazon subsidiary fully responsible for the game, has already been able to make drastic changes to the Melting pot client in the past month, particularly by removing a full game mode to better target its remaining player population.
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All images in this gallery were captured from real Melting pot How to play. Here, you need to capture a “hive heart”, which appears at random places on the map (instead of predetermined points in a “lane”).
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Melee for explosive damage.
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Follow that up with a laser for good measure.
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During my first test session, I found myself confused by where the hell it was on the map most of the time. Much of the terrain looks similar.
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Do you need more insect-like NPCs in your life? Melting pot has many of them
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When you get trapped inside your enemy’s protective dome, you can’t get out and others can’t get in.
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Tosca captures a health amp, which increases the total health stats of all teammates.
Amazon Games Studio
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Tosca pierced through a cloud of yellow gas to become invisible, which persists even when his hero uses board or movement abilities. However, it uses an attack and the ability to hide disappears.
Amazon Games Studio
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Kill this creature to sink the heart and earn a point.
Amazon Games Studio
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Another angle of the APN.
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Hold down a button to scan the environment, no matter what character it is. Strangely, this seems to expose enemies who would otherwise be hidden by the playing field.
Amazon Games Studio
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Hammer blur hit.
Amazon Games Studio
Amazon Games’ inexperience with the games as a service sector was already a worrying problem when Melting pot released in mid-May. It is still unclear why the company chose to release the game to the public in a “1.0” state open in May instead of testing the waters of public perception with invitation-only beta testing or an “early access” soft launch. (The reasoning did not seem to be entirely about making money through microtransactions, as all players who signed up over the past month were awarded approximately $ 10 free credits for joining the game’s launch period. “MOBA”, as other important forays into that game model, particularly Epic’s Sampler and the gearbox Battle of birth, had crashed and burned so noisily.
While Relentless has offered insight into their plans to update and develop the game over time, the studio has yet to commit to adding a built-in text chat, a serious oversight for a game that can’t be won without strategy. Coordinates, or systems to deal with those who leave anger, so that dedicated players are not punished for staying in 3v4 or 2v4 matches that are impossible to win. (The only consolation at press time is a slight boost for unequal teams and a new “surrender” option.)
Also, since Relentless is retrieving this game behind a curtain to play, I’ll add a little request: Rename the game before relaunching it. “Crucible” has long been established as the mode name for Destination and Destiny 2‘s versus modes.
