"We never would have made decisions that are so blatantly not player-focused": Ex-Dauntless dev "can't be silent" after an update under the dev's new owner "gutted the core gameplay and crafting"

gamesradar.com:

Following the disastrous Steam debut of free-to-play Monster Hunter-like Dauntless and an initial response from developer Phoenix Labs that's done little to calm or assure players, original associate producer Jessie Leigh Gagnon, who was one of the first few devs at Phoenix Labs back in 2014, joined the community in calling on the team to "do better with Dauntless."

The big Awakening update timed with Dauntless' Steam release has been panned like the Colorado River for taking an axe to much of what made the game, well, a game. At the time of writing, its Steam user review score sits at 15% positive – "Overwhelmingly Negative" and then some.

In a LinkedIn post, Gagnon agrees that "Dauntless today is no longer Free to Slay. They’ve gutted the core gameplay and crafting mechanics. The essence of the Slayers (who I named just over 10 years ago), has been, in fact, slayed to ribbons. We never would have made decisions that are so blatantly not player-focused."

"I spent the past week a bit baffled and shell-shocked at the Steam launch of Dauntless from the new studio ownership that acquired Phoenix Labs," her post begins. "I wasn’t going to write anything here, because my personal time and journey at Phoenix Labs was a short one, but Dauntless was every bit my pitch as it was the other five original team members, so I feel I can’t be silent."

Gagnon is referring to Forte Labs' bizarrely secretive 2023 purchase of Phoenix Labs. The blockchain company told Game Developer that it didn't realize all the secrecy was a "giant red flag." Phoenix Labs staff were reportedly barred from sharing the news and evidently only learned of the acquisition after signing some paperwork.

Its exact direction and leadership are unclear, but life since the Forte acquisition has not been blissful for Phoenix Labs. Layoffs came last May, and in July it was revealed that a new game codenamed Project Dragon had been canceled at Phoenix Labs mere weeks before reveal after years in development. It