Undead Labs shutting down struggling RPG, Moonrise

State of Decay developer Undead Labs will be closing down its free-to-play Pokémon-esque RPG, Moonrise, on December 31. 

Although Undead Labs had been planning on officially releasing Moonrise, which is currently available on iOS in some regions and Steam Early Access, the developer has revealed that the game is struggling to retain users. 

Indeed, Jeff Strain, Undead Lab's founder, has explained that, while some players are enjoying the game, most simply play for a while and "then move on after a few days" -  making Moonrise, which incurs "significant" server hosting costs, an unsustainable venture. 

"For a standalone, offline game that might be fine," said Strain, "but for an online game with significant server hosting costs and an expectation for ongoing development and new content, it can mean a game that not only doesn’t pay for it’s development costs, but might even cost money to operate."

"As you can imagine, that’s not something that makes sense for an independent studio like Undead Labs, nor for that matter would it be a good business decision even for a large publisher."

There is a silver lining for anyone still invested in the title, however, with Strain promising to "open the floodgates" now that the company doesn't have to worry about making a profit. 

New updates are already on their way, and fans can expect to see new dungeons, increased rewards, more XP, and an updated Arena Mode before the year is out.