Remedy is winding down its team shooter FBC: Firebreak with a big update that launches today. But while the game won’t be getting any new content going forward, the studio intends to keep it alive for the foreseeable future. It’s yet another example of a live-service game struggling amidst a volatile market.
The new update is called “Open House,” and it includes a handful of new areas pulled from Control (Firebreak is a spinoff that takes place in the Control universe), along with what Remedy describes as “gameplay improvements and balance changes aimed at making combat clearer, smoother, and more flexible.” You can check out Steam for the full list of changes.
However, unlike many recent shooters that have shut down entirely, Remedy plans to keep Firebreak running even with a smaller userbase. “We have done engineering work to ensure we can sustain the upkeep of the relay servers when the player volume is lower,” the developer says. The studio has also made some changes to try to keep the playerbase active even without content updates. Anyone who owns Firebreak can play with their friends for free through a new feature called “Friend’s Pass,” and the game’s price has been reduced to $19.99. Remedy says that Firebreak “will stay online and continue to be playable for years to come.”