King of Meat

Last updated

King of Meat
King of Meat 2025 cover art.png
Developer Glowmade
Publisher Amazon Games
Platforms
ReleaseOctober 7, 2025
Genre Action
Mode Multiplayer

King of Meat was an online multiplayer dungeon crawler video game developed by Glowmade and published by Amazon Games. The game released on October 7, 2025, for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S.

Contents

King of Meat received mixed reviews from critics, and was a commercial failure, resulting in layoffs at Glowmade. The game was shut down on April 9, 2026. [1]

Gameplay

King of Meat is a four-player player versus environment (PvE) dungeon crawler with platformer and puzzle game mechanics. [2]

Development

King of Meat was developed by Glowmade Studios and published by Amazon Game Studios. In an interview with Hardcore Gamer, Jonny Hopper, the game's lead designer, said that he was inspired by the film Labyrinth , as well as WWE. [3]

Shutdown

On February 23, 2026, Glowmade and Amazon announced that they concluded their investment into King of Meat, the servers would be taken offline on April 9th and that all copies of the game would be refunded in the following weeks. The game was delisted from digital storefronts immediately following the announcement. [1] [4]

Reception

The Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5, and PC versions of King of Meat all received "mixed or average" reviews from critics, according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. [5] [6] [7] Fellow review aggregator OpenCritic assessed that the game received fair approval, being recommended by 59% of critics. [8] In concluding his review for Hardcore Gamer , Zach McKay of Hardcore Gamer wrote: "Everything is straightforward and to the point; there isn't much to do, but when done with a party, it can end up being fun. It isn't going to be a game of the year contender by any means, but the world surrounding the game is over the top and hilarious." [9] Lucas White of Shacknews summarized the game as "a cute, welcoming multiplayer action game with a lot of challenges and interesting mechanics". [10]

Sales

King of Meat was a commercial failure, as the management expected 100,000 concurrent players on Steam, but the game peaked at 320, resulting in around a dozen layoffs at Glowmade. [11]

References

  1. 1 2 Romano, Sal (February 23, 2026). "King of Meat to end service on April 9; all purchases to be refunded". Gematsu. Retrieved February 23, 2026.
  2. Scott, Maisie (October 9, 2025). "King of Meat Review: A chaotic carnival of combat, creativity, and spectacle". NoobFeed. Retrieved October 18, 2025.
  3. Green, Parker (June 24, 2025). "King of Meat Devs Reveal Inspirations, from WWE to David Bowie". Hardcore Gamer. Retrieved December 26, 2025.
  4. Kerr, Chris (February 24, 2026). "Amazon shutting down UGC dungeon brawler King of Meat". Game Developer. Retrieved April 9, 2026.
  5. 1 2 "King of Meat Xbox Series X Critic Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved October 18, 2025.
  6. 1 2 "King of Meat Playstation 5 Critic Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved October 18, 2025.
  7. 1 2 "King of Meat PC Critic Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved December 27, 2025.
  8. 1 2 "King of Meat Reviews". OpenCritic . October 9, 2025. Retrieved October 18, 2025.
  9. 1 2 McKay, Zach (October 2, 2025). "King of Meat Review: A Fun Party Game with Unique Customization". Hardcore Gamer. Archived from the original on October 2, 2025. Retrieved December 27, 2025.
  10. 1 2 White, Lucas (October 6, 2025). "King of Meat review: Dungeon Ninja Warrior". Shacknews . Archived from the original on October 6, 2025. Retrieved December 27, 2025.
  11. Chalk, Andy (December 10, 2025). "King of Meat studio was reportedly expecting 100,000 concurrent players, but it peaked at 320 on Steam—and that was during a free weekend". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on December 18, 2025. Retrieved December 21, 2025.