Tencent's free-to-play co-op shooter Synced is closing just a year after it launched

Synced screenshot — (Image credit: Next Studios)

Synced, the free-to-play co-op shooter released by Tencent's Level Infinite publishing brand, is closing in September, just a year after its launch in September 2023.

An open beta for Synced ran from December 2022 into January 2023, after which it effectively went away until the 1.0 release in September of last year. Two seasons followed, but the launch of the second season in March—entitled Cyber Safari—was the last update on Steam prior to the closure announcement. The Synced Twitter feed has been silent since then as well.

"Thanks so much for playing Synced and being a valued member of its community, but we regret to inform you that the game will be retired this September," Level Infinite said in the legally-precise shutdown update. "Synced will be terminated with effect from 11:00 on September 9, 2024 (GMT+8) (“Termination Date”). Please note the actual date and time of termination may differ by region."

Here's the regional schedule, if you happen to be playing Synced and want to hold out until the last possible second:

19:00 on September 8, 2024 (GMT-8)
03:00 on September 9, 2024 (GMT+0)
11:00 on September 9, 2024 (GMT+8)

A reason for the shutdown wasn't provided, but it's not too hard to suss out: The unfortunate fact is that it's almost a certainty you aren't playing Synced. The game achieved a peak concurrent player count of over 10,000 immediately after launch, but it wasn't able to retain its audience: Only a few hundred people were playing at any one time by the end of 2023, according to SteamDB, and the concurrent player count hasn't risen above double-digits since mid-April.

User reviews on Steam are not great either. Synced overall rating is "mixed," while recent reviews are "mostly negative," driven by complaints about long queue times and persistent bugs.

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Synced looked competent when the open beta was announced in 2023 but not especially original or interesting, and that's a big disadvantage when you're trying to muscle into a genre that's already pretty crowded. That's not necessarily the kiss of death—The First Descendant, a "dollar store Destiny" that holds an even lower Steam rating than Synced, is currently doing very well for itself—but it's not a great place to start, either.

Anyone who is still playing Synced will be able to keep at it, "and use any existing in-game items," until the end comes.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.