No more content updates for Bleeding Edge as Ninja Theory focuses on new projects

Bleeding Edge will recieve no future updates but remains online for play with an announcement from Ninja Theory as it shifts priorities to its new upcoming projects.

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Recent Microsoft acquisition Ninja Theory announced it is pulling support for Bleeding Edge, the multi-player online combat game less than one year after releasing it to the world. A full slate of new projects is the given reason for cutting off future content updates. The announcement comes via the official Bleeding Edge Twitter account as of 9 a.m. PT on January 28, 2021.

Debuting on March 24, 2020, Bleeding Edge surprised Xbox One and Windows gamers everywhere with its fast and frantic teamplay featuring an eclectic cast of 13 characters. Born from the lingering ideas leftover from Kung Fu Chaos, Ninja Theory presented a game primarily focused on brutal 4v4 melee brawls against competition that was seemingly all shooters. Perhaps this was a factor in the declining player base seen since release, numbers are not available for Microsoft owned platforms, but the performance on Steam speaks for itself with less than a thousand peak lifetime players and an average of only 4 in the last 30 days.

The numbers for Bleeding Edge have never been great, even for a 'AA' developer like Ninja Theory.
The numbers between March 2020 and January 2021 have not been great for Bleeding Edge, even for a 'AA' developer like Ninja Theory.

The silver lining behind the bad news for any remaining fans of the very fun and overlooked arena brawler is that Ninja Theory will now be putting full focus into new projects such as the gorgeous looking Hellblade: Senua's Saga, follow up to the breakout hit Senua's Sacrifice. Project: MARA, the real-world mental terror experiment teased a little over a year ago, and The Insight Project, an effort to combine game design with clinical neuroscience, are also mentioned in the Twitter post that put a stop to the bleeding for Edge's development.

Ninja Theory also stresses that the game will still be playable on Xbox and PC for the foreseeable future, and thanks everyone for causing chaos in their cyberpunk dystopian online basher. We at Shacknews love Bleeding Edge and encourage anyone with Xbox Game Pass to give the team combat game a spin. For more insight on Bleeding Edge and the development process, check out our developer interview stream with Ninja Theory on YouTube.

Contributing Editor

From the test launch of the NES in New York to 4K gaming in his living room, Bryan Lefler has been immersed in video games his entire life. Battle tested in the arena shooters of the turn of the century yet kind to all animals that may cross him, Bryan enjoys a breadth of games but strives to be the best in any contest of digital skill. He is a former esports competitor and has been part of the Shacknews community for over 15 years. You can also catch him on skankcore64 streams on the Shacknews Twitch channel where he plays through the N64 library and follow him on Twitter @skankcore.

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