Delisted on June 1! Did Horizon Chase Become a Casualty of Epic's Layoffs?

They made a trade-off here, cutting old projects to safeguard core business.

It has been officially announced that Horizon Chase Turbo and its mobile predecessor will be delisted across all platforms on June 1.

From a design perspective, this racing game features no real licensed vehicles or tracks. Theoretically, maintenance costs are low, so it shouldn't have been among the first projects cut.

Technically speaking, the absence of high online maintenance costs should have ensured a longer lifespan. However, with separate versions for multiple platforms, code redundancy after merging is indeed significant.

From a business logic standpoint, Epic's layoff of 1,000 employees necessitates rapid cost reduction. Just yesterday, Epic Games announced a massive layoff plan affecting over 1,000 people.

The developer, Aquiris, has now been renamed Epic Games Brasil. Eliminating low-revenue product lines during integration is a common method of architectural optimization.

Players who already own the game will still be able to download and play normally at that time, which shows some consideration. At least the offline experience is preserved, which is far more responsible than simply shutting down the servers. The sequel, Horizon Chase 2, remains unaffected for now; the core product line is secure. This indicates that the team still values the IP's future commercial monetization potential.

The first generation is still available for purchase on Steam, but the window is very short. For collectors, buying the first generation now is the last chance for a low price. Players are advised to confirm their library status as soon as possible to avoid subsequent verification failures.

Old projects making way for new initiatives is not rare after industry mergers and acquisitions. We can see that when major studios contract, the first sacrifices are marginal assets. Although this strategy is cold, it is logical from the perspective of corporate survival.