Dawngate, EA's version of League of Legends, canceled after six-month open beta

Dawngate, Electronic Arts' foray into the free-to-play MOBA market, is being closed down six months into its open beta, the game's general manager announced this afternoon. Those who spent money during the open beta will be offered refunds.

Matt Bromberg, the Electronic Arts group general manager overseeing the game, announced today that EA will stop development of the game. "Whenever we begin a game project, we do so with great hopes and expectations," he said in a statement to fans. "In this case, we chose to enter a new genre for EA in MOBA, one that we knew going in was extremely competitive."

Dawngate began life with a closed beta in May 2013, seeking to capture a slice of a market dominated by multiplayer online battle arenas like League of Legends and Dota 2. It had been in a full open beta since May of this year.

"Through that time, we've taken a lot of feedback from players and delivered lots of new features and innovations," Bromberg said. "And although the game has grown, we're not seeing the progress we'd hoped for. This isn't the outcome we wanted, but beta testing is about learning and improving, and ultimately, about making difficult decisions about how to proceed."

For players, any who spent money on the open beta will be entitled to a full refund, which will be processed in the next 10 days. Dawngate will continue to operate for the next 90 days, Bromberg said.

Electronic Arts made no formal announcements regarding the game's staffing. Dawngate was being developed by Waystone Games, an in-house EA studio.

"On behalf of the entire team at Waystone Games and EA, I want once again to thank all our players for being part of this journey," Bromberg said. "Your straight-up feedback and the friendly reception we received all over the world at events was extremely encouraging and important to us. We appreciate it."