Ghost Recon Frontline closed test cancelled after fan complaints

Ubisoft’s new free-to-play battle royale is off to a rocky start, with the planned technical test being indefinitely postponed.

It was already obvious that the initial response to the unveiling of Ghost Recon Frontline was not a positive one, but it’s been so bad that Ubisoft has already given up on plans for a closed technical test.

Frontline is the latest attempt by Ubisoft to create a free-to-play spin-off from one of its major franchises, but fans objected to the fact that the only game mode available at launch was going to be a battle royale – which seems out of step with the sub-franchise’s history as a tactical shooter.

Fans were doubly upset because this was the major 20th anniversary announcement for the series and so Ubisoft has revealed that the closed test, which was meant to start today, has been indefinitely delayed, with no explanation and no hint of when it might be rescheduled for.

Some fans are already wondering whether the whole game has been cancelled but that seems relatively unlikely, although Ubisoft did admit that development had only recently started.

‘The development team is dedicated to creating the best experience possible’, reads the official announcement. ‘We’ll share details on the new date for the closed test as soon as we can’.

On YouTube the official trailer currently has 19,000 dislikes and only 5,000 likes, with the comments section filled with fans angry at turning the series into a battle royale.

‘It’s impressive that they took everything people said they hated and delved deeper into that to create this game’, says Gains Gaming Ginger.

‘It’s funny how you’re describing why people loved the Ghost Recon franchise and then show us a game that literally s**** on everything that Ghost Recon is!’ adds Red Cyric.

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Ubisoft has seemed desperate for a hit battle royale for a long time, so it’d be quite the U-turn if they were to drop that mode from Frontline.

What is possible though is that they might put more focus on the other modes, which were only briefly mentioned in the reveal and implied not to be available at launch.

However, it’s clear that what the fans really want is more single-player tactical gameplay and it seems that, whatever happens, that’s unlikely to come from Frontline.

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