After only two years on the market, Sony’s multiplayer shooter Drawn to Death will be shutting down. The game recently notified players that its servers would be turning off on March 25, 2019. Since it is an online-focused title and it requires an internet connection, it will effectively be unplayable after that date.
The announcement message displays after logging into the game and is also on the PlayStation Store:
“Notice: Multi-player [sic] and all online features for this product will be terminated and will no longer be available on 03/25/2019. As you have to be online to play this title, this game will not be playable starting 03/25/2019.”
Drawn to Death was announced at the first PlayStation Experience show in 2014. Famed God of War Director David Jaffe presented the game as the conference’s coup de grâce that hearkened back to his time making Twisted Metal. Both were PlayStation-exclusive juvenile, multiplayer games. It came out exclusively on the PS4 on April 4, 2017 and was included in that month’s PlayStation Plus free games lineup.
But the troubles for Drawn to Death only started there. While our review was on the higher end of the spectrum, it released to harsh critical reception and currently sits at a 56 on Metacritic. Some websites, like Giant Bomb, said it was one of the worst games of the year (that they played).
The game was chastised for its aggressive, unfunny sense of humor and divisive art style. Although being “free” to everyone with the necessary PlayStation Plus account to play it online, it failed to find an audience. The developer, The Bartlet Jones Supernatural Detective Agency, shut down in February 2018 after a “vast majority” of it staff got laid off the month prior. Jaffe tweeted the news and also revealed that the studio’s next project had been prematurely canned.
Sony is still currently selling the game and all of its microtransactions on the PlayStation Store. However, it warns the players of its imminent shutdown in the description.
