Fuserthe DJ game from the original Guitar Hero creator and Rock band studio Harmonix, is shutting down its live service content and ceasing sales. This comes just two years after the music-mixing game launched—and it’s honestly a big bummer.
Read more: Fuser Is A Good Game, But An Amazing Music Creation Tool
On December 2, Harmonix posted an update to the official Fuser website that reads: “On December 19, we will be disabling Fuser‘s live services and all sales of the game, as well as its DLC. Players who already own FUSER will still be able to play the Campaign and Quick Play with any DLC they have already acquired.” The post thanks players for their support and for “all the amazing mixes over the years.”
While Fuser will technically still be playable to those who already own it, players will be restricted to just those two offline modes. Gone are the co-op and competitive multiplayer modes which allowed you to battle or mix music with other players. And with no more live service support, that means that whatever DLC you have is all you’re gonna get, ever. As someone who has played and enjoyed Fuser but never bought the DLC, the game is only as strong as its music selection—limiting that is most certainly the official death of the game.
Whenever I played Fuser it was either while streaming or with a ton of friends sitting on my bed, drinks in hand, screaming when I pulled off a sick drop or successfully faded “Bodak Yellow” into “Funky Cold Medina.” It’s a fun party game—so much so that my cool, fashion industry friends would get absolutely hyped at a chance to make their own mixes. I’ll never forget when one of them zoned out on Fuser for nearly an hour, ignoring everyone else at the party and letting out screams of excitement and giddy giggles as she made some of the most horrendous-sounding songs I’ve ever had the displeasure of hearing.
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I can still technically recreate that magic at future house parties, but considering we eventually grew tired of the music at our disposal, the inability to get any more songs makes it far less appealing.
And to be fair, no one has really been playing Fuser—at least, if the Steam stats are to be believed. As of publication, the game has only had 19 people playing it in the last day, and only a little more than a dozen average players in the last six months. But the death of Fuser has larger implications, most notably that the age of rhythm games is officially over. Support reached out to Harmonix and Epic Games (who bought Harmonix last November) for comment on what went into the decision to shut down the game, but have not received a response at the time of publication.
Even though Activision CEO and alleged cover-up of widespread company problems Bobby Kotick recently said he has a great idea for the return of the Guitar Hero franchisethe death of Fuser may mean the death of the rhythm games’ triumphant return. Oh well, at least I can still play Guitar Hero while shitfaced at a Dave & Buster’s.
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