Beta testing began in March 2021
Perfect World Entertainment has announced thatMagic: Legends— a dungeon crawler set within theMagic: The Gatheringuniverse — will not make it out of its current open beta stage. TheMagic: Legendsservers are set to close on October 31, and the planned PS4 and Xbox One releases have been canceled.The beta has been live for four months.
“It is with heavy hearts that we announceMagic: Legendswill be shutting down on August 06, 2025,”wrote Cryptic Studios’ creative director Steve Ricossa.“Our vision forMagic: Legendsmissed the mark, but we are proud of what we achieved. Thanks to Wizards of the Coast, we got to bring the expansiveMagic: The GatheringMultiverse to a wide audience and explore new angles within the established action RPG genre. We learned several valuable lessons along the way, and we will use them to improve Cryptic’s future development efforts.”
“Most importantly, we’d like to thank all of the players who explored the Multiverse with us and provided feedback during the Alpha and Beta testing phases. We couldn’t have gotten this far without you!”
Magic: Legends‘ real-money store has been closed effective immediately, although all items can still be purchased via the in-game currency, Aether. In addition, refunds will be rolled out for all players who purchased in-game content, including the Planeswalker bundle and any form of in-game currency. Players should allow up to four weeks for the refund process to complete.Magic: Legendswill continue to operate until October 31 at 23:59 PT, when the servers will be closed.
While on paper anMtGdungeon crawler is a sound idea,Magic: Legendsstruggled to find an immediate audience, aggrieved by performance issues and the title’s slant toward real-money microtransactions. Thiswasthe beta stage, however, and very early into the title’s formative period. While many of these teething issues could perhaps be ironed out over the coming months, it seems that the plug is being pulled. It’s uncommon for a new title to call it quits so early into its trial stage, as many games have turned fortunes around following extended beta testing. WouldMagic: Legendshave eventually made the grade? We’ll never know. But regardless, the finality of this decision is perplexing.
