Capcom sets an example of how to phase out a dying game with Exoprimal
Last week, Capcom silently ended all planned content for its dinosaur-hunting, exosuit-wearing game Exoprimal. After almost a year since its initial release, Exoprimal’s first season will return on July 11, 2024 and begin cycling its seasons on the first of each month. While this effectively puts one of Capcom’s newest IPs on life support, it maintains the game in a playable state and honors its remaining players.
What will happen to Exoprimal?
As mentioned, Exoprimal’s four seasons of content will begin rotating at the start of each new month. What’s interesting is that progress for each season will remain the same. Say a player completes only 30 out of season one’s 50 battle pass tiers this coming July. That person retains their battle pass progress once season one returns in November. Premium tiers work similarly, as they are only valid for their corresponding seasons. To make things simpler for Exoprimal’s remaining players, Capcom plans to release a discounted set of premium passes for all four seasons.
On top of the returning seasons, Capcom will also be rotating weekly campaigns and missions every month. Savage Gauntlets, Double EXP Campaigns, and the limited Monster Hunter and Mega Man collaboration events will be returning to add unique ways to play every month. Likewise, limited-time cosmetics like the Valentine’s Day-themed Chocolate suit and Happy Anniversary! charm will be available during their associated events/ holidays. This recurring content is set against the backdrop of Exoprimal retaining its online servers and gameplay modes. Exoprimal did not have very high player counts from the start, so the game’s ability to fill in lobbies with Bots (AI-controlled Exofighters) will be preserved so that players can complete the main campaign and engage in multiplayer.
Exoprimal may be on its knees, but it is still alive
There have been worse fates than the one Capcom has planned for Exoprimal. Various live service games (Marvel’s Avengers, Babylon’s Fall, and Hyper Scape, to name a few) have come and gone, with many having little to no support once the developers decided to pull the plug. While Exoprimal’s rotating content means that the game will eventually become stale, people can still play the full game. This not only makes it so that players still get value from their purchase, but the game itself will live on as a reminder of what it once was.
It’s always sad to see a game slowly die before it has had the chance to prove itself. But that is the nature of live service games, as they require a lot of time and effort from both players and developers. Hopefully, Capcom will take what it learned from Exoprimal and use it to better its upcoming projects.
