Black Eye Games, the indie studio behind the medieval MMO Gloria Victis, has made the difficult announcement that they will be ceasing operations and shutting down the game after the current season ends. The decision comes as a result of financial constraints and the toll of continuous work leading to team burnout.
Having only fully released on Steam in January 2023, Gloria Victis had a lengthy six-year stint in early access before that. The game’s journey began in 2012, and despite an unsuccessful Kickstarter campaign, the developers pushed forward, releasing a pre-alpha version on their website in 2013.
The Gloria Victis team expressed the immense challenge of creating and maintaining an MMORPG, especially with a small team of around 15 developers. They acknowledged the incredible support from their community and the Polish game development industry, which helped them navigate numerous obstacles over the years.
However, the team has reached a point where they can no longer sustain the game. “Mostly due to financial reasons, as our game has always been a niche which we found extremely hard to expand without losing the game’s identity, and required more and more resources to progress and keep the pace, and due to continuous work without required rest for so long which eventually led to burnouts, we won’t be able to provide required maintenance on the game much longer,” they stated. The final season will conclude with the server closure on October 31, 2023.
Transferring the game to the community isn’t a viable option due to the extensive infrastructure needed to host player-made servers. The team explored all possibilities but found it unfeasible to create a version that wouldn’t require significant resources to maintain.
Despite a peak in player count to 4,175 concurrent users post full release, the numbers have dwindled, with less than 700 players in the past 30 days according to Steam Charts.
Black Eye Games has other titles to its name, including the promising medieval survival game Siege Survival: Gloria Victis and Nadir: A Grimdark Deckbuilder, which has received mixed reviews. Nevertheless, the studio has confirmed its closure, affecting all its projects.
The studio is committed to supporting its team during this transition, actively seeking opportunities within the industry to secure new positions for the Gloria Victis developers.
| Game Title | Final Season End Date |
| Gloria Victis | October 31, 2023 |
- Full release on Steam: January 2023
- Early access duration: Six years
- Pre-alpha release: 2013
- Peak concurrent players: 4,175
- Current players (last 30 days): <700
