Trending Now - Stormgate's Multiplayer Faces Shutdown After Server Acquisition
WHO:
aftermath.site - Frost Giant Studios, the developers behind Stormgate, are former Blizzard developers.
aftermath.site - Hathora, the game server orchestration partner for Stormgate, was acquired by Fireworks AI.
rockpapershotgun.com - Fireworks AI is the company that acquired Hathora.
WHAT:
aftermath.site - Frost Giant stated, "We hope to restore online play in a future patch, but this work will be dependent on Frost Giant finding a partner to support ongoing operations."
rockpapershotgun.com - Hathora has selected Nitrado's GameFabric server hosting infrastructure as an "exclusive transition partner" for existing studios to avoid online downtime.
aftermath.site - Stormgate will lose online multiplayer support at the end of April 2026.
aftermath.site - Frost Giant announced that online modes will not be available after the server shutdown.
aftermath.site - The game had a Kickstarter campaign that raised $2.4 million.
aftermath.site - Recent Steam reviews for Stormgate are "mostly negative."
aftermath.site - The peak concurrent player count for Stormgate has yet to break 100 in 2026.
rockpapershotgun.com - Hathora announced they are discontinuing their service for game companies within 90 days of the acquisition.
WHERE:
aftermath.site - The announcement was made on Stormgate's Discord server.
rockpapershotgun.com - Hathora's website contains information about the acquisition and service discontinuation.
WHEN:
aftermath.site - The planned outage for Stormgate's multiplayer modes will occur at the end of April 2026.
rockpapershotgun.com - The announcement regarding the server shutdown was made on April 1st, 2026.
WHY:
rockpapershotgun.com - Fireworks AI plans to use Hathora to "work on compute orchestration for AI inference at scale."
aftermath.site - Hathora was acquired by an AI company, which plans to pivot its focus to compute orchestration for AI inference at scale.
HOW:
aftermath.site - Frost Giant disclosed that AI tools were used during Stormgate's development for early ideation and enhancing portraits and facial animations, but no developers were replaced with AI.
aftermath.site - Frost Giant stated that Stormgate will be patched to allow offline play, but online modes will not be available post-shutdown.
(UPDATED April 2, 2026 11:14 UTC)
Frost Giant announced that they hope to restore online play for their game in a future patch, but this will depend on finding a partner to support ongoing operations. Meanwhile, Hathora has chosen Nitrado's GameFabric server hosting as their exclusive transition partner, aiming to help existing studios avoid online downtime. Additionally, Frost Giant revealed that while AI tools were utilized during the development of Stormgate for early ideation and enhancing portraits and facial animations, no developers were replaced by AI in the process.
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(UPDATED April 2, 2026 05:33 UTC)
Frost Giant Studios, the developers behind Stormgate, announced on Wednesday that the game will lose online multiplayer support at the end of April 20th26, following the acquisition of their game server orchestration partner, Hathora, by Fireworks AI. The decision comes as Hathora plans to pivot its focus to AI compute orchestration, and while Frost Giant will patch the game for offline play, online modes will be discontinued. Recent reviews for Stormgate have been mostly negative, with peak concurrent players in 2026 failing to exceed 100, and the game had previously raised $2.4 million through a Kickstarter campaign.