Airship Syndicate announced today that it has "reached an agreement with Digital Extremes to begin the transfer of the MMO action RPG "Wayfinder" to Airship in earnest," and as a first step toward the game's resurgence, it will suspend sales while it finalizes its next plan The company revealed that it will.

Wayfinder looked very promising when it previewed in 2023, but was underwhelming at launch due to server problems that resulted in queues, failed connections, and disconnections for hours during gameplay. Combined with complaints about the high pricing of in-game items, the rating on Steam quickly became "almost negative."

A few months later, the situation for developer Airship Syndicate was further exacerbated when publisher Digital Extremes discontinued its outside publishing division; DE announced that it would transfer control of the game to Airship Syndicate, a small bright spot amid the troubles. The studio subsequently faced its own problems and laid off 12 developers in January. In the midst of all this, Wayfinder's concurrent player count continued to decline and has not cracked double digits since mid-March.

The Airship Syndicate acknowledged Wayfinder's "rocky launch" in today's announcement, but said it still believes in "this game and the world we have created."

"When we founded Airship, it was to create a great game with memorable characters and adventure in an engaging world. With these core principles in mind, we've spent the last few months behind the scenes challenging some of the core ideas of Wayfinder and creating an experience that lives up to our standards and beliefs."

"We did this with respect for our founders and a desire to excite new players, while remaining feasible for our business model as a new independent publisher. We will be sharing these changes soon, but they are not ready yet."

Because of these planned changes, Airship Syndicate has "suspended sales of the game for the time being," presumably to prevent a greater impression of the game in its current state. No Man's Sky's long, slow climb to a "mostly favorable" rating No Man's Sky's long, slow climb to a "mostly favorable" rating is proof that it is possible to turn this situation around.

The Wayfinder "coming soon" page (via the Wayback Machine) on the Epic Games Store has also been removed, and the playwayfinder.com website has gone up with a message that it will not be updated during the transition period. [Executive producer AJ LaSaracina told PC Gamer, "We hope to have more information for players in the coming weeks, but we can confirm that the game will be exiting Early Access this summer. We'll have more information for players in the coming weeks, but we can confirm that the game will be out of Early Access this summer," executive producer AJ LaSaracina told PC Gamer.

No date was given for Wayfinder's return, but Airship Syndicate "promises to keep Wayfinder active and vibrant," and that more information on what will be happening will be revealed in the next four to six weeks. The company also stated that Those who already own the game will continue to have access to it.

"There are big changes and big improvements, but we don't plan to disappear like so many online-only games we've all played and loved. We believe Wayfinder is special and will be playable forever."