We really liked Mirage: Arcane Warfare, but something about the magic brawler didn't pull people in. The all time peak concurrent players in Mirage doesn't even break a thousand according to Steam Charts, and at the time of writing the 24-hour peak is just seven players.
"Mirage launch sales were poor," wrote developer Torn Banner Studios in an update posted today. "That sucked, and we know it."
In an attempt to jump start Mirage, Torn Banner is making it free on Steam for 24 hours starting September 6th at 10 am Pacific. It's not just a trial: If you grab Mirage on Steam during the 24-hour free window, you can keep it forever.
"More than anything, we're disappointed for the players who stuck by us and did buy Mirage—but who have struggled to find people to play against," wrote the studio. "We just want people to play the game we spent years making."
After the free promotion, the price of Mirage will drop to $10 permanently. It's clearly a disappointment for Torn Banner, but perhaps the promotion will help the right audience discover Mirage's best qualities. And as for the future of the studio, Torn Banner says it's "doing fine," and that it will "continue to make awesome games in the future."
I'm still waiting for Absolver's server issues to be fixed before playing too much more (the patch could come as soon as Friday), so maybe this is good timing for Mirage.
