Crucible

Crucible launched May 20, 2020 as Amazon Game Studios' free-to-play hero shooter, their second attempt at competitive gaming after Breakaway's cancellation. The game featured 10 hunters across multiple PvPvE modes, mixing hero shooter mechanics with survival elements and third-person combat. Reviews were mediocre—the game felt generic in a post-Overwatch, post-Apex Legends world oversaturated with hero shooters. Launch numbers were decent (tens of thousands of concurrent players), but within weeks the playerbase cratered to double digits. On June 30, 2020, Relentless Studios made the unprecedented decision to "unlaunch" Crucible, pulling it back into closed beta after six weeks. By October 9, 2020, Amazon announced development was ending permanently. Servers shut down November 9, 2020. StreamerHouse's 528-viewer peak in 2020 came during the brief launch window when Twitch (which Amazon owns) pushed the game hard, but viewer counts collapsed faster than the playerbase. Crucible struggled to attract triple-digit Twitch viewers despite Amazon's ownership, a damning indictment. Amazon offered full refunds for all purchases and transitioned the team to New World. Crucible's five-month lifespan—launch, unlaunch, cancellation—became a case study in how NOT to launch a live-service game. Amazon went 0-for-2 before New World finally gave them a win, proving that infinite money can't buy taste or timing.