Two months after launching its massive overhaul update, Dauntless will be no more later this year. Developer Phoenix Labs has announced the Dauntless shutdown on social media, although its exact reasoning remains unclear. While it may be disappointing news for fans of the Monster Hunter-style RPG, there is still time to try it before it joins the pile of closed live-service games.
In a recent post on Dauntless’ X account, Phoenix Lab provides an “important update” that confirms “Dauntless is shutting down on May 29, 2025. Dauntless will receive no additional content or updates.” Additionally, players won’t be able to access the game on or after the aforementioned date.
In a message on the Dauntless Discord server, Phoenix Labs expresses to players that “your passion, creativity, and dedication made Dauntless more than just a game – it became a shared world and a place where friendships were forged. We know there were times we didn’t get it right, but we always strived to give you the best experience we could.”
It’s likely that the extremely divisive reception to Dauntless Awakening’s update in December 2024 was a catalyst for the shutdown. Revamping the action game’s quest structure and adding new weapons were part of the update, at the cost of stripping away the game’s basic systems in a very bare-bones fashion. Former Phoenix Labs associate producer Jessie Leigh Gagnon said in a LinkedIn post in December that “they’ve gutted the core gameplay and crafting mechanics […] we never would have made decisions that are so blatantly not player focused.”
Phoenix Labs has faced hardships over the years, following a quiet acquisition by blockchain company Forte Labs in 2023. After the cancellation of a new project in May 2024, the studio’s first set of layoffs occurred, followed by another round as recent as January 2025. In its heyday, Dauntless was an exceptionally fun free Switch game, blending Monster Hunter-influenced battles with a charming opening world and a glowing social experience.
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