Crucible
It launched, retreated into closed beta, and shut down—all within the same year.
Quick facts
- Existence state
- Officially Gone
- Peak stage
- general availability
- Research confidence
- high
- Last verified
What it was
A free-to-play team shooter developed by Relentless Studios and published by Amazon Games.
Crucible was a full public release on Steam, not an invitation-only experiment. But after a difficult launch, Amazon performed the rare manoeuvre of withdrawing a released game back into closed beta.
Existence timeline
Amazon introduces Crucible as one of its first major original games.
The game becomes freely available to the public on Steam.
Two of the game’s three modes are cut as the team narrows its focus.
Crucible is withdrawn from open access while existing players remain admitted.
Amazon announces that work on the game will end.
The final public remains of Crucible go offline.
Why it ended
The team cancelled further development in October 2020 and closed the servers the following month.
Last confirmed trace
Store records, launch trailers, archived patch notes and recorded matches preserve a game whose public life lasted less than six months.
What it left behind
Its reversal from release to beta made it an unusually clear example of the line between launching software and sustaining it.
How we classified it
Amazon sold and launched Crucible publicly, then withdrew it to closed beta and permanently ended development and service.
A full commercial launch reached the 100-point general-availability stage.
Sources & verification
Last reviewed 2026-08-01. Sources are linked so readers can inspect the evidence directly.