Zero-G PvP shooter that sold 100K in a day is closing after a year—publisher blames developer, developer blames them right back, players just review bomb it

Boundary is a multiplayer space shooter where the pitch is simple: PvP in zero-G. The game was announced in 2019 by developer Surgical Scalpels, and would eventually launch in early access in April 2023, at which time PC Gamer's Tyler Wilde found it a weirdly compelling take on the competitive FPS: «Space is really not the ideal location for anything humans do, nevermind tactical infantry battles, but it is quite a lot of fun.»

Players agreed, too. Despite an upfront price of $25 Boundary managed to shift over 100,000 copies in its first 24 hours on-sale, as well as racking up thousands of «Mostly Positive» Steam reviews. The developers said at the time they expected early access to last six months to a year. Just over a year later, Boundary is being abandoned.

An announcement from publisher Skystone Games, which was founded in 2020 by longtime industry veteran David Brevik, creator of Diablo and former president of Blizzard North, alongside Bill Wang, is titled «End of Service» and reads in part: 

«After careful consideration, Skystone has decided to relinquish the publishing rights for Boundary, effective at the end of June.

»Over the past few months, there have been significant delays and a noticeable absence of content updates for Boundary. Despite our best efforts and support, the developer has been unable to deliver the necessary updates and improvements to keep the game thriving. This has led to growing concerns within our community, and we share your frustration.

«Unfortunately, the developer has made the difficult decision to cease all services for the game instead of continuing to run it in its current state.»

The developer, Surgical Scalpels, has a different take on things. In a post to Chinese social media site BiliBili, the studio says (via machine translation):

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«The unilateral decision of SkyStone to stop operating Boundary is extremely sudden and