DJ Game Fuser is dying and that sucks

fuserthe DJ game from original Guitar Hero creator and Rock band studio Harmonix, closes the content of the live service and ceases sales. This comes just two years after the music mixing game launched – and it’s a major setback, frankly.

Read more: Fuser is a good game, but a great music making tool

on 2 Dec. Harmonix has posted an update on the official Fuser website that reads: “On December 19, we are going to shut down fuser‘s live services and all sales of the game, as well as the DLC. Players who already own FUSER can still play the campaign and Quick Play with all the DLC they have already acquired.” The post thanks players for their support and for “all the great mixes over the years.”

While fuser will technically still be playable for those who already own it, players will be limited to just those two offline modes. Gone are the co-op and competitive multiplayer modes where you can fight with other players or mix music. And since there’s no more live service support, it means the DLC you’ve got is all you’ll ever get. As someone who has played and enjoyed fuser but never bought the DLC, the game is as strong as the music selection – limiting that’s definitely the game’s official death.

Every time I played fuser it was while streaming or with a bunch of friends sitting on my bed, drinks in hand, screaming when I drew a sick drop or successfully faded ‘Bodak Yellow’ to ‘Funky Cold Medina’. It’s a fun party game – so much so that my cool friends from the fashion industry would get all excited if they got the chance to create their own mixes. I’ll never forget when one of them aired fuser For nearly an hour she ignored everyone else in the party, letting out shrieks of excitement and dizzying giggles as she made some of the most horrible sounding songs I’ve ever had the pleasure of hearing.

I can still technically recreate that magic at future house parties, but as we eventually got tired of the music we had available to us, the inability to get any more songs makes it much less appealing.

And to be fair, nobody really played fuser– at least, if the Steam statistics are to be believed. As of publication, only 19 people have played the game in the past day, and just over a dozen average players over the past six months. But the death of fuser has bigger implications, most notably that the era of rhythm games is officially over. Kotaku reached out to Harmonix and Epic Games (who purchased Harmonix last November) for comment on the decision to close the game, but have not received a response at time of publication.

Although Activision CEO and alleged cover-up of widespread corporate problems Bobby Kotick recently said he has a great idea for the return of the Guitar Hero franchisethe death of fuser could mean the death of the triumphant return of the rhythm games. Oh well, at least I can still play Guitar Hero while he was dead drunk in a Dave & Buster’s.