On July 8, 2022, Pearl Abyss announced that their fantasy battle royale Shadow Arena is closing.
The spin-off of Black Desert Online was first revealed on G-Star in November 2019 and was released to Early Access in May 2020. Now, two years after launch, the game is slated to shut down. Game downloads and in-game currency purchases have already been disabled, with a final termination date of August 10, 2022.
Shadow Arena never found its footing in the highly competitive battle royale genre. The game has a peak concurrent player count of 4,958 in the history of the game on Steam, with more recent player numbers barely in the double digits.
Despite a strong start with Black Desert and Black Desert Mobile, Pearl Abyss still hasn’t managed to get another hit. The studio is developing several games, including Crimson Desert, DokeV and Play 8, but they have all experienced significant delays. They have also shrunk in scope and ambition. The release of Crimson Desert is scheduled for the end of this year.
