Probably for the best at this point
One of Amazon’s three upcoming video games just wasn’t able to come together.
Double Helix’s team-based fantasy sport brawler Breakaway went on an “indefinite hiatus” in October 2017. Over the weekend, Amazon Game Studios issued a status update confirming what felt inevitable: Breakaway is no longer in active development, and the team is now pursuing new ideas.
Since our last announcement, we have worked to implement community feedback and iterate on Breakaway‘s core gameplay. While we have developed many ideas and made a lot of progress, we are also setting a very high bar for ourselves. In spite of our efforts, we didn’t achieve the breakthrough that made the game what we all hoped it could be. After a lot of soul searching, the team decided to focus on new ideas. As a result, Breakaway is no longer in active development.
We remain exceptionally proud of the team’s work, and feel privileged to have been a part of such a dedicated and enthusiastic community. We will reach out to this channel as soon as we have news to share regarding our new projects, and if a thunderbolt of inspiration strikes that leads us back to Breakaway, you’ll be the first to know.
I think the writing was on the wall after last year’s hiatus, but my heart goes out to Double Helix. The team was on a roll with Killer Instinct and Strider, and it’s a bummer to see that momentum fizzle out.
Amazon still has New World and Crucible in its games lineup, and I’m excited for (and increasingly anxious about) the former game. It’s an MMO sandbox title about building a colony in a cursed land with supernatural creatures and back-stabbing players running amok. I’m way into that concept.
Update on Breakaway’s development status [reddit]
