First-person shooter (FPS) titles have struggled in the past year: Concord bombed upon its 2024 launch resulting in a swift shutdown and Bungie’s upcoming release Marathon is receiving community criticism. Now, esports legend shroud’s FPS Spectre Divide is closing permanently. Let’s explore everything we know.
Spectre Divide’s Concept: ‘Shroud’s Game’
Mountaintop Studios’ Spectre Divide, a 3v3 first-person tac shooter, was developed with esports in mind. Legendary Counter-Strike player shroud, who has over 11 million followers on Twitch and won several ESL tournaments while playing for Cloud9, was heavily involved in the title’s production. The game’s primary differentiation point was a unique cloning system, which let players swap between two bodies while fighting and contesting objectives.
Related Article: Shroud Reveals Marvel Rivals Roster
Spectre Divide’s Struggle: Saturated FPS Market
The FPS market is intense, with plenty of titles to choose from. Since tactical shooters are generally multiplayer, they rely on a large player base to survive. This means they usually must either cater to an extremely niche subgenre (which Bungie’s Marathon is attempting currently) or deliver existing mechanics better than previous options. In some cases, the latter can work out well, such as with Marvel Rivals, which devoured much of Overwatch’s population.
Spectre Divide took a similar route. After playing Counter-Strike, shroud briefly competed in fellow FPS VALORANT. Mountaintop Studios marketed Spectre Divide as the premier option for competitive gamers dissatisfied with these titles, emphasizing its deeper focus on smooth weapon mechanics and insight from industry professionals. Like Counter-Strike and VALORANT, Spectre Divide would be free-to-play.
The game launched on September 24 2024, receiving extremely mixed reception. While it received some hype at launch, the player base began to dwindle and dropped from 30,000 players upon release to under 1,000 since November 2024 (according to SteamDB). While things looked incredibly bleak (particularly since additional infamous FPS Concord’s closure), Mountaintop Studios maintained that they would continue updating Spectre Divide.
Spectre Divide servers will officially be shut down on 4/17 @ 12PM PT. Additionally we are attempting a workaround for the Three’s Company achievement. Please see this Reddit post for more details: https://t.co/i43ZwiJHdt
— Spectre Divide (@SpectreDivide) April 15, 2025
On April 15 2025, Spectre Divide announced that its servers would shut down permanently, just two weeks after its Season 1 competitive launch. In an accompanying Reddit post, the studio made a quick statement:
“On behalf of the skeleton crew here at Mountaintop Studios, it has been an honor and a pleasure to support Spectre Divide as long as possible so that you, the player, can enjoy these fleeting moments before they are gone.
Until we meet again, Spectres. So long and thanks for all the fish.”
Spectre Divide’s staff also released a more in-depth publication elaborating on their decision, explaining that its primary cause was lack of funding. Mountaintop Studios had “stretched our remaining capital as far as we could,” but ultimately did not have enough to continue supporting server activity.
The publication confirmed that “the industry is in a tough spot right now,” and the title was simply unable to compete with larger F2P FPS options. Mountaintop Studios reportedly “pursued every avenue to keep going, including finding a publisher, additional investment, and/or an acquisition” before deciding to close. The studio’s staff said it is a “painful update to share,” thanking the Spectre Divide community for their support.
Mountaintop Studios will be refunding players for all Season 1 in-game purchases. In addition, the studio itself will close alongside Spectre Divide.
When Will Spectre Divide Shut Down?
According to the original announcement, Spectre Divide will close on April 17 2025 at 12 PM PT. Here’s a quick conversion for other timezones:
After the shutdown occurs, players will no longer be able to access any Spectre Divide servers or any game modes.
Esports Impact
Spectre Divide’s closure will likely show future developers the important of investing in the casual play aspects of shooters, even when aspiring to a larger esports scene. Esports communities can grow to millions of watchers, but they ultimately depend on a healthy, populous player base and casual fans to survive.
