Amazon's first foray into the wide world of video games has apparently hit a snag. Scott White, one of my fellow Staff Writers, previewed the game, saying  that "Crucible finds itself hamstrung somewhat out of the gate." Apparently, that couldn't be more true, as Crucible has taken a development step back, essentially de-releasing and going back to a closed beta. Crucible had originally launched May 20.

The move to scale back to a closed beta was announced through a developer update on Crucible's site. The update starts by saying that the planned roadmap for the game will still continue - player feedback will still be taken into account to change the game for the better. In fact, for existing players it doesn't seem like the Crucible experience will change even as it's de-released. If anything, it seems that developer Relentless Studios will be much more active with the community during this time. The update goes on to say "One of the biggest changes you'll see is that we're going to schedule dedicated time each week when we as devs will be playing with the community and soliciting feedback." Besides that, players will still be able to play the game 24/7, launch it from Steam and create any content they want with the game. It's just as well that if you've been playing Crucible, you won't lose any of your progress or items.

Another big addition for the Crucible community will come in the form of a "community council" which will be made up of players from across the skill spectrum. This council will work closely with the game's development team, assumedly to make focused changes.

However, as a closed beta, there is the question of what will happen to those looking to get into Crucible. As it turns out, they'll have to act fast. The update suggests that potential players purchase the game before 9 a.m PT tomorrow morning, leading me to believe it will no longer be available after that time. It goes on to say that "In the near future, newly interested folks will be able to sign up through playcrucible.com." The duration of Crucible's closed-beta was not specified, nor was a time frame for the game to relaunch.