Step Inside an Abandoned Game in No Players Online
Beeswax Games, the Belgian indie studio behind the newly expanded version of No Players Online, has restored the game on Steam after an unfounded DMCA claim forced it offline for nearly three weeks. The removal arrived at a crucial moment, shortly after launch, and disrupted the momentum the team had worked to build.
The situation carried an odd sense of irony, since the game itself revolves around exploring an abandoned multiplayer server filled with secrets and a presence that refuses to fade. While this disappearance might have seemed fitting for its eerie world, the impact on the developers was serious. Sales halted, attention dipped, and the studio faced significant financial strain.
In a statement, Adam Pype from the Beeswax team and Black Lantern Collective described how the takedown affected them after spending years shaping the project. He expressed the team’s frustration that a simple form was enough to remove their work from the storefront and shared how important visibility is for a small studio trying to recover from the setback. They also encouraged players to support the game by leaving reviews and spreading the word across the internet.
No Players Online expands on the original 2019 cult favorite by drawing players into a decaying digital landscape. Inside an old computer sits a broken multiplayer shooter that appears to have been running for years. As you investigate its forgotten maps and hidden paths, the world slowly reveals its history. Your progress uncovers fragments of a deeper narrative, blending exploration and puzzle-solving with pieces of story buried throughout the system.
Each discovery offers another glimpse into the origins of the game, the reasons it was left behind, and the strange remnants that continue to inhabit it. The result is an experience that turns curiosity into an increasingly unsettling journey.