Monster Hunter-Like RPG Dauntless Will Shut Down In May

Phoenix Labs, the developer behind the free-to-play Monster Hunter-like RPG Dauntless, released an update on Steam, announcing that the game will shut down on May 29, 2025. There will be no more updates or new content, and after that date, players won’t be able to play the game.

This announcement came a month after the layoffs that affected the majority of the studio, an estimated 140 people, from last month. This was almost doomed with the Dauntless’ disastrous Steam launch — it was rated as overwhelmingly negative because the studio wiped players’ progress, removing hundreds of items and instead adopting a monetization policy that some now call “predatory.” 

Phoenix Labs was founded in 2014 by former Riot Games developers Jesse Houston, Sean Bender, and Robin Mayne. In 2023, it was acquired by Forte, a blockchain company, which many have considered the beginning of the studio’s pitiful path. 

Besides Dauntless, which is the studio’s debut title, another game called Fae Farm was also in production. Its fate is unknown at this moment, but the developer promised to share more updates in the coming weeks.