Amazon Shuts Down King of Meat on April 9, 2026 and Confirms Full Refunds for All Purchases
Amazon and developer Glowmade have confirmed that King of Meat will be shutting down, with the game’s servers scheduled to go offline on April 9, 2026. The announcement was published on the game’s official site, and the message is blunt about what happens next: the title has already been delisted from storefronts, microtransactions have been disabled, and anyone who purchased the game will receive a full refund through their platform provider in the coming weeks.
The shutdown is a hard stop for a project that many players will remember from its Gamescom Opening Night Live 2024 reveal, where even Geoff Keighley appeared in the trailer. If that moment rings a bell, it is because the pitch was designed for quick sharing and streamer energy, essentially a cooperative party platformer where 4 friends compete through medieval themed, community built obstacle courses.
In a statement, Amazon and Glowmade point directly to audience size as the reason the project is ending. They say the game did not find the audience they hoped for, and as a result, they are concluding investment in the title and closing servers on April 9, 2026. Players who already own the game will be able to access and play all existing content until the shutdown date, and the teams are encouraging players to use the remaining time to enjoy what is currently available.
From a performance visibility standpoint, PC numbers help illustrate why this decision landed. SteamDB shows King of Meat never exceeded 320 concurrent players, and that peak happened about a month after launch during a free weekend trial period rather than at release. At the time referenced in the report, the 24 hour peak sits at 10 players. Those are difficult metrics for any live service driven game to sustain, especially one that depends on matchmaking energy and creator momentum to keep the loop alive.
The refund language is unusually clear for a live game closure. The statement includes an all caps note confirming that all players who purchased King of Meat will receive a full refund in the coming weeks from their platform provider. This applies whether players paid 30$ at launch or bought during more common discount periods. With microtransactions now disabled, there is no remaining monetization pathway, which reinforces that this is a complete wind down, not a limited maintenance mode.
The broader story is also a reality check for the influencer first strategy. King of Meat was openly positioned as a strong fit for streaming, and the team suggested they had already seen streamers and content creators enjoy it. Even a Mr. Beast collaboration timed near launch failed to generate the critical mass needed to keep a multiplayer ecosystem alive.
What happens next for Glowmade is not clear yet, and the official wording strongly implies the partnership chapter with Amazon has concluded. Still, the tone of the message makes one thing obvious: a live service shutdown does not automatically mean the studio lacks talent. It often means the market is unforgiving, discoverability is brutal, and the hit threshold for always online games is higher than ever.
Should publishers stop designing multiplayer games around streamer virality, or is the real problem that too many live games launch without enough long term content depth to retain players?
