According to KitGuru.net, Theorycraft Games, a studio founded by ex-Riot Games developers including former executive VP Joe Tung, is permanently shutting down the servers for its debut title, Supervive, on February 25th, 2026. This decision comes less than five months after the game officially launched its 1.0 version in July 2025. Executive Producer Jenn Nam stated that while a huge number of users tried the game, most abandoned it quickly, leaving a peak concurrent player count of just 400. The studio has immediately disabled all real-money transactions and is offering full refunds for purchases made since September 16th. A final patch was deployed with a new mode and a free cosmetic bundle as a parting gift before the lights go out.
The brutal math of live-service
Here’s the thing: 400 peak concurrent players is basically a death sentence for a live-service game. You can see the stark data on SteamDB. That number isn’t just low; it’s financially unsustainable. Servers cost money, developers cost money, and ongoing content creation is a massive, continuous burn. When your active community is that small, you can’t possibly monetize it enough to keep the lights on, let alone turn a profit. It’s a brutal reminder that in this market, a “huge” download number means absolutely nothing if you can’t get people to stick around. The promise of a MOBA-battle royale hybrid just wasn’t enough.
A talent stack isn’t enough
This is the really sobering part. Theorycraft wasn’t some scrappy, unknown indie studio. It was stacked with veterans from Riot, the company that literally defines the live-service model with League of Legends. They had the pedigree, the experience, and presumably, the funding. And yet, they still couldn’t crack it. It shows that even with a dream team, breaking into the saturated multiplayer space is a monstrously difficult task. Players have so many entrenched options—why would they leave their main game for an unproven newcomer? A slick trailer, like their initial reveal, gets you initial tries, but it doesn’t build a habit.
The pivot and the future
So what’s next for Theorycraft? Jenn Nam says they’re shifting strategy, aiming for a scope “between independent and AAA” and moving away from live-service. They’re going dark to prototype. That sounds smart, but it’s also a massive, painful reset. They burned years and millions on Supervive. Now they have to start over. It makes you wonder if the entire “ex-AAA studio goes for a live-service hit” model is fundamentally flawed. The costs are too high, the competition is too fierce, and player attention is the scarcest resource of all. Their plan to go quiet is probably the right call, but it’s a stark comedown from the initial hype.
A community’s end
For the few hundred dedicated players left, this sucks. No way around it. That final free cosmetic bundle is a nice gesture, but it’s a digital tombstone. The immediate refund policy is the absolute bare minimum of good practice, but it’s good they’re doing it. These stories always end with a small, passionate group on Discord or Patreon wondering what happened. The hard truth? The market happened. Building a game is one thing. Building a persistent, thriving *service* is a whole other beast, and it’s a beast that just ate another very talented team. I think we’ll see more of these stories before we see fewer.
