Sniper Elite Battle Royale has officially been shut down by Rebellion due to Tencent withdrawing its hand from the game.

Fans anticipating the release of Sniper Elite Battle Royale are utterly disappointed at the moment due to the game being canceled before launch. It also went through the first phase of Alpha testing in mid-August.

Releasing Sniper Elite Battle Royale might not have been the best decision. Image Credit: Rebellion

The reason for Tencent withdrawing its hand from the game is largely due to the recent fate of Concord, which is one of the biggest disasters in video game history.

Tencent Withdraws Its Hand From Sniper Elite Battle Royale

Cocnord’s failure forced Tencent to withdraw its hand from many games. Image Credit: Firewalk studios

The biggest reason Sniper Elite Battle Royale is being shut down is due to Tencent withdrawing its massive funding from the game. The game had been in development for a while. The game is based on the basic principle of any battle royale, where you will be thrown into an area with a team of 3, and you have to survive till the very end.

Concord’s failure hit Tencent hard; it was a big disaster that shook the entire company. Tencent got weary of its future projects and made a major decision to withdraw funding from a lot of similar titles.

Most fans of Sniper Elite were not completely on board with Rebellion’s decision to transition from single-player games to battle royale. Players were anyway weary about how it might turn out. It did not start on a positive note and was not getting positive responses ahead of its release.

These were some of the major contributors that fueled Tencent’s decision to let go of it. Concord’s failure struck the entire industry by surprise. It was anticipated to do well but fell on its face eventually. However, the exact reason behind the game shutting down is still not as clear. Rebellion has denied commenting on the matter.

Battle Royales Have Become Oversaturated

Rebellion has more games planned for the future. Image Credit: Rebellion

There are a lot of battle royale games on the market at the moment that seem to be doing well. There is a lot of competition in the online multiplayer gaming sector.

Amidst all this, releasing a battle royale might not be the best decision, and maybe in the long run, Rebellion will look back at this moment and thank its stars for not letting it venture into unstable grounds. The market is not stable enough at the moment to experiment or take risks. Concord bled the industry of its funds massively, and it will take some time before things start to stabilize again.

All is not lost of Rebellion, and the shutdown did not cause any layoffs either. The staff was simply shifted towards other projects that the studio is currently working on, including Sniper Elite: Resistance, which will be its next main addition to the Sniper Elite franchise.