Shroud's Spectre Divide Hits All Time Low in Peak Players
The shooter genre is jam-packed with all-time classics, bold experiments, and a whole lot of really popular games. Just as Concord was dropping into that space as a historic failure, Shroud and Mountaintop Studios released an exciting new take on tactical shooter gameplay.
Spectre Divide received initial praise and plenty of media attention both for its unique 3v3, mobility-focused playstyle, which allows you to swap to a clone of yourself mid-round, but also for the involvement of popular Twitch streamer and legendary Counter-Strike champion Shroud.
Since launch, Spectre Divide has seen a steady decline in its player count, never surpassing its first-day peak of 30K players. According to SteamDB, the game reached a new low on September 26 with a 240hour peak of just under 6K. To add to this disappointment, Polygon's Nicole Carpenter reported that Mountaintop Studios has laid off 13 employees this week. So what happened?
Thirteen people were laid off from Mountaintop Studios — the makers of the stylish 3v3 shooter Spectre Divide, which was released on Sept. 3. It’s a real bummer, I’m sure, to finally be able to show off your work, then get laid off. pic.twitter.com/VTW7kpPH78
— Nicole Carpenter (@sweetpotatoes) September 25, 2024
Pricing Controversy
Immediately after launch, some of the hype for Spectre Divide was cut short by players noticing the high prices on many in-game cosmetics. This led to the game initially receiving "mixed" reviews on Steam, never a good sign for a new game from a small studio. The outcry quickly reached the point where Mountaintop Studios chose to reduce prices by up to 25% and issue refunds.
At time of writing, the overall review score remains mixed with 61.6% positive reviews.
New Hotness
Deadlock stormed onto the scene right around the time that Spectre Divide was building buzz. While much has been written comparing the positive reception of Valves new MOBA/Shooter hybrid to the challenged launch and ultimate termination of Concord, Spectre Divide was certainly caught up in that mix.
It even impacted what should have been the game's biggest buzz-builder. In the last 30 days (or the entire existence of Spectre Divide post-launch) Shroud has streamed 138 hours of Deadlock to just 35 of Spectre Divide. He also averaged 2K more viewers during his Deadlock broadcasts.
Shroud also has not tweeted about Spectre Divide since its ranked play update on September 6.
The Future
Layoffs are never a good sign for a studio, but in a statement regarding its decision, Mountaintop did stress its commitment to Spectre Divide for the long term. In a statement to PC Gamer, a representative also stated that the company still has over 70 full-time employees working on the game. The in-game store has also teased an upcoming Season 1, but little is known about the potential content that update will offer.
It's possible that Spectre Divide could rebuild its playerbase with the right mix of influencer hype and reliable content updates, but the game has an uphill battle. In addition to its regularly declining playerbase, it is struggling to capture an audience on Twitch. Spectre Divide ranks as the 206th most-watched title by average viewers in the last week, and reaching a combined peak of just 9.6K viewers across all channels.
Trent has covered esports since the birth of the LCS. He also led content strategy and served as Senior Writer for The Esports Observer and Sports Business Journal, and worked on the development team for Rushdown Revolt.