Things are looking bleak for Boundary: A dispute has broken out between the publisher and the developer over the zero-G shooter.
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Boundary actually had the ingredients to become the next big shooter hit. But now things are different: In an “End of Service Notice,” the manufacturer announced the end.
“After careful consideration, Skystone has decided to give up the distribution rights to Boundary at the end of June,” it says.
Publisher accuses devs …
The publisher Skystone joined the promising project in 2020, which at that time had already released the first trailers and videos for a lot of attention in the shooter scene had taken care of.
For example, with this trailer, which received hundreds of thousands of views:
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Boundary – Space first-person shooter shows impressive physics & ray tracing effects
Now, however, Skystone is making serious allegations against the developer Surgical Scalpels, as PC Gamer reports:
The last few months have seen significant delays and little new content for Boundary. Despite our efforts and a lot of support, the developers have not been able to deliver the updates and improvements needed to keep the game alive.
The publisher therefore clearly sees the blame with the developer studio. They share the fans' frustration and regret Surgical Scalpels' decision to stop the game after Skystone's departure. so the statement.
… developer fires back
But the developers apparently see things quite differently: They were taken by surprise by the publisher's sudden decision to no longer distribute Boundary. They tried to negotiate, but their efforts fell on deaf ears.
»We are working hard to regain the rights to Boundary, secure data and possibly Start the relaunch on your own to be able to,” was the response from Surgical Scalpels.
Legal action has also been taken to get Boundary's outstanding profits paid out by the publisher. This also includes money that Skystone allegedly did not pay out to the studio.
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The space shooter Boundary promised weightless action in the launch trailer
»Don’t buy,« say fans
While the developer studio and publisher accuse each other, The anger of the remaining Boundary players is released on Steam: Through Review Bombing The rating of the shooter has now slipped to “Extremely Negative”.
“The game is dead, servers are offline, don't buy,” writes one user. Boundary is still available in Early Access for 24 euros.
Boundary actually started out really well: With its innovative concept of infantry battles in zero gravity, the title was able to attract up to 25,000 players at the same time. In the first 24 hours after release, Boundary sold over 100,000 copies.
The concept of Boundary is special and was considered a great hope for the genre for a while: players fight as heavily armed astronauts in environments without gravity, meaning the levels no longer have a fixed concept of up and down.
There are six classes with different specializations, customizable weapons, different types of ammunition and tactical gadgets. It remains unclear whether and in what form the shooter will return.