Synced, a free co-op shooter released by Level Infinite, Tencent's publishing brand, will end in September 2023, just one year after its launch.

Synced's open beta ran from December 2022 to January 2023, then effectively ended until its 1.0 release last September. Two more seasons followed, but the March launch of the second season (titled "Cyber Safari") was the last update on Steam before the closure announcement; Synced's Twitter feed has also been silent since then.

"Thank you so much for playing Synced and being a valued member of its community. Synced will end on September 9, 2024, at 11:00 a.m. (GMT+8) (the "End Date"). Please note that the actual End Date and time may vary by region."

The schedule by region is as follows If you happen to be playing Synced and want to hold out until the last possible moment:

No reason for the termination was provided, but it's not too hard to guess: unfortunately, it is almost certain that you are not playing Synced. The game reached a peak of over 10,000 concurrent players shortly after launch, but failed to maintain an audience: according to SteamDB, only a few hundred people were playing at any given time by the end of 2023, and the number of concurrent players has not exceeded double digits since mid-April.

User reviews on Steam have also been poor: Synced's overall rating is "mixed," with recent reviews "mostly negative," driven by complaints about long queue times and persistent bugs.

When the open beta was announced in 2023, Synced looked competent but not particularly original or interesting; First Descendant, a "dollar-box Destiny" with even lower Steam ratings than Synced, is currently doing very well but not a very good starting point.

Those still playing Synced can continue to play "while using existing in-game items" until the end comes.