Anthem

Following the underwhelming release of Mass Effect: Andromeda, fans were expecting a redemption arc from developer Bioware with Anthem. The game looked really promising with all the markings of a great action-adventure game, but the final product was anything but. A rushed development cycle and poor management from higher-ups meant that much of the game’s creative parts were crushed under the weight of business decisions, and Anthem ultimately became a massive flop. There were plans to revive the game under the Anthem NEXT banner, but those efforts were also canned due to growing costs.

Skull and Bones

Skull and Bones was the developer’s effort to translate its adrenaline-pumping naval combat gameplay mechanics into a live service format. The game spent years and years in development hell, surviving multiple changes and differing creative directions before finally releasing just a few days ago. And suffice to say, the reception has been poor. It might be too early to call the verdict on this one, but the chance of Skulls and Bones’ sinking ship reaching the shores of live service success is looking pretty slim at the moment.

Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League

When Rocksteady announced Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, it felt like a natural evolution of the ideas we saw in the Batman: Arkham games. The prospect of playing as the anti-villains and engaging with the game over the long term was pretty tantalizing, but the first look at the uninspired gameplay more or less set the course for what was ultimately going to be a trainwreck. And to not much surprise, Suicide Squad also launched recently, and most fans have already lost interest in the game just a couple of weeks after launch.

Marvel’s Avengers

A live service game that lets you play as some of the most famous superheroes on the planet would be a formula ripe for success, right? Well, that’s what the developer thought when it laid down the blueprint for what would ultimately become Marvel’s Avengers. The live service elements felt shoehorned into the final product, and a lack of engaging endgame portion and grindy progression mechanics didn’t really help either. And to top it all off, the game released in an extremely buggy state making it one of the biggest flops in recent memory. While the developer did make some effort in turning it around into a success with post-launch DLC, it eventually became clear that many of its biggest problems were rooted in the foundational elements of the game and that wasn’t really something they could repair with a finished product.

Knockout City

Knockout City was a really fun multiplayer game with an interesting art direction and unique mechanics, and developer Velan Studios was able to accrue a sizable player base through those aspects. But player interest, unfortunately, waned over time due to a variety of reasons, and the developer started to withdraw support with falling player counts – resulting in a slow death of this once-promising multiplayer IP.

Hyper Scape

Yet another developer trying to capitalize on the battle royale hype train with Hyper Scape, a game that combines fast and fluid movement mechanics with unique features that were specifically catered towards streamers. There isn’t anything inherently wrong with Hyper Scape’s set of mechanics, and it did gain some success on an initial level but the game just wasn’t able to sustain that success in the long run.

Evolve

Evolve was one of the first games in the asymmetrical multiplayer space, and developer Turtle Rock Studios’ title had quite a number of fans waiting with bated breath for its release. It had some fun ideas going for it, but the developer failed to capitalize on the potential with underwhelming DLC content. The idea of killing fantastically designed monsters in a eerie atmosphere certainly was a great idea on paper but the execution left much to be desired.

Foamstars

Foamstars was a decent attempt at cashing on the popularity of Splatoon’s gooey splatterfest mechanics and taking those concepts to a new platform, but a rough execution meant that much of the potential therein was put to waste. Foamstars does have a few good things going for it, but the lack of engaging content and uninteresting progression mechanics give players more than enough reason to not be in it for the long run. Player counts haven’t been the best as of late, and Foamstars is looking to be on a downward spiral just a couple of weeks after launch.

Lawbreakers

Lawbreakers was an interesting attempt at creating a hero-based first-person shooter, and while some of its ideas could be traced back to Overwatch – Lawbreakers was anything but a ripoff. There were plenty of reasons why Lawbreakers never got the love that it deserves which range from poor marketing to uninspired art direction and high skill requirements among others. There was a dedicated group of players who enjoyed what Lawbreakers had to offer, but that group wasn’t nearly enough to sustain the game’s continuous development and maintenance costs – eventually leading to servers being shut down.

Radical Heights

The insane success of Fortnite caused a lot of developers to quickly rush into the battle royale genre and grab a piece of this newly discovered pie, and developer Boss Key Productions’ Radical Heights was one of those shameless attempts. It was a game that could barely pass off as a minimum viable product, and the fact that it lacked any sort of creativity meant that it was dead as soon as it launched.

Paragon

Epic Games tried to capture the lucrative MOBA market with Paragon, but failed to create much impact in the long term. The game managed to earn some faithful players when its early access version was first released in 2016, but complaints regarding its mechanics and quirks weren’t addressed in a feasible manner. There was a very clear distinction between the direction that the developers took with Paragon and what players wanted out of it, and with no common ground achieved – player counts trickled down and developers started to withdraw support, eventually causing servers to shut down.

Red Dead Online

Red Dead Redemption 2 is an undisputed masterpiece, and it continues to stand as a towering achievement for storytelling in video games. It’s pretty sad then that the online component of the game can’t be praised on a similar level, and a lot of that could be blamed on the developer’s inability to drop meaningful content updates to keep players hooked in the long run. The runaway success of Grand Theft Auto 5’s online component meant that RDO was mostly kept on life support, and that eventually led to player counts dropping and it ultimately turned out to be a failure.

Rocket Arena

Rocket Arena was yet another attempt by EA to cash in on the popularity of gaming trends, and the developer tried to take on the team-based mayhem of Overwatch with a few tricks up its own sleeve. Rocket Arena had somewhat of an interesting art style and compelling mechanics, but it also had an equal share of glaring issues ranging from game balance to progression and lack of content among others. Players quickly lost interest in the game soon after its release, causing a premature end to what could have been a promising IP.

Battlefield 2042

Battlefield 2042 was an ambitious project that tried to turn its multiplayer model into a live service format, but a less-than-stellar execution plan made it one of the biggest failures that the long-running genre has seen to date. A missing single-player campaign, basic communication features, and a general lack of content are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Battlefield 2042’s buffet of problems – and players quickly took note. Sales were obviously much lower than projected numbers, and those who did get into the game didn’t stick around for much longer.

The Culling

The Culling is yet another attempt by a developer to capitalize on the battle royale hype, but developer Xaviant Games clearly put out the game well before it was even ready. It suffered from a bevy of issues ranging from technical inefficiencies to half-baked mechanics and much more. It was a laughing stock of a game, and it continues to serve as an example for developers to not blindly rush towards hot trends.

Why? In a nutshell, Velan Studios doesn’t have the manpower or resources to update and improve the game in the ways it wants to while also maintaining consistent support for it. The studio is, as such, deciding to take the knowledge it has gathered from over the course of the game’s development and its post-launch period and apply it to its next project- which may or may not be a new Knockout City game.

“Creating such a different game with no points of comparison and running live services for the first time in many of our careers has also made the past couple years particularly challenging,” the developer writes. “Despite over 12 million players and billions of KOs around the globe, there are several aspects of the game in need of major disruption to better attract and retain enough players to be sustainable. Since we are a small, indie studio, it’s simply impossible for us to make those kinds of systemic changes in the live game while continuing to support it. So it became clear to us that we needed to take a step back and pave the way for Velan to do what we do best by innovating.

“Now we can take everything we learned, everything that succeeded and everything that needs improvement, and get to work on exploring new possible experiences for Knockout City and other games and products we are very excited about. We’re currently in the process of doing a comprehensive retrospective on every aspect of the game, all the community feedback and analytics data, and even our development processes. Our hope is that sometime in the not-too-distant future, all this information can be used to start work on what comes next in the Knockout City universe. While we can’t promise that Knockout City will be back, what we can promise is that you’ll continue to see new and innovative games from Velan Studios that will surprise and delight players around the world.”

Before the game goes offline though, it’s set to receive plenty of updates for those who want to stick around and keep playing until the end. On February 28, the game’s ninth and final season will kick off, bringing six back-to-back events, new cosmetics, playlists, a new map, and more. On the same day, the game will also disable microtransactions.

“To make up for this, we’ve packed every event in Season 9 with rewards for XP, Style Chips, and thousands of Holobux,” Velan Studios writes. “Every event also features a massive sale shop with huge discounts, and almost every cosmetic we’ve ever sold will make its way into one of these sale shops. The rewards for League Play, Daily Login Bonuses, and the Brawl Pass have also been drastically increased, and the price of the Premium Brawl Pass will be reduced to just 50 Holobux (which you can easily earn in the Free Pass).”

Season 9 will end on May 23, which will also mark the beginning of a final two-week farewell event, featuring triple XP, new rewards, and the return of the Superpowers: Power Grab playlist. Finally, on June 6, the game’s servers will go offline, rendering it unplayable. That said, Velan Studios will also be releasing releasing a standalone player-hosted version of the game, for those who want to keep playing on private servers even after the game has shut down.

Knockout City is available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

The new mode will be playable in a new playlist, titled the Foot Clan Clash Playlist. It involves two pairs of brawlers having to battle it out, competing against each other in taking out the most Foot Soldiers in the time limit. Players can also take on Black Belt Contracts to earn rewards themed around Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, including a Foot Soldier outfit.

The game mode involves four different kinds of Foot Soldiers, each with their own unique traits and behaviour.

Alongside the event, Knockout City is also getting the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Villains bundle, which includes cosmetics, such as an outfit to make your character look like Bebop and Rocksteady.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles event for Knockout City kicks off on January 10, and will be live until January 24.

Along with new side attractions in the Hideout (including a mini-game of Soccer), any visiting Crew member can now see your Crew Banner. The Brawl Shop also has new tracks for the Jukebox including Get Outta Dodge ft. Sonny Rey. A new Crew vehicle type is also coming that gives a sleek futuristic look.

This is all in addition to a new Brawl Pass which is packed with new cosmetics. Earn XP, complete Contracts and so on or purchase the Premium Pass for Holobux to net even more rewards and Contracts. If you’re really dedicated to the grind, then the new Chrome Street Rank will be available after Diamond Level 100 which contains Chrome rarity cosmetics.

Check out the roadmap below for a full breakdown of content available during Season 6.

Along with a new event in Spring that has exclusive unlockables, features like Basketbrawl, Chain Reaction and more will be coming back. Once Season 5 is done, Year 2 of the multiplayer title kicks off. Season 6 will arrive in Spring and see the title going free-to-play. A new Loyalty Bundle will be provided to all players who purchased the game before Season 6 and includes exclusive cosmetics, XP boosts and 2000 Holobux.

Velan Studios will also be self-publishing the title going forward. It thanked the Electronic Arts and the EA Originals label, and said that “bringing publishing in-house will allow us to fully realize our vision for the long-term future of this game. There’s so much to look forward to, because this is just the beginning.”

Due to all of these big changes, Season 5 will have less bundles and cosmetics and no new Brawl Pass, map or ball. Season 6 will feature all of these things (including a new “Special Ball”) so stay tuned. Knockout City is currently available for PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.

There’s a new map called Alien Smash Site, which, according to the developer, is the game’s biggest map to date. You can use the UFOs spread across the map to traverse quickly from one point to the other. Of course, there are a ton of cosmetic additions themed around space and aliens as well, and a brand new Battle Pass that would allow players to work through these unlocks when the Season starts on December 7th.

Knockout City was also a part of PS Plus’ games for November, making it a perfect time to try out this game. Those on Xbox can also try out the game through EA Play, which is included in the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription.

Available November 2, Knockout City‘s PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions are capable of running at a 120 fps in performance mode, while resolution will take a hit. Those wanting a richer visual experience can also opt in for the quality mode, which will feature improved lighting and visuals, all at a pristine native 4K output. Here’s what you can expect from the two modes on each of the consoles:

• PS5: Native 4K at 60FPS, or 1440p (upscaled to 4K) at 120FPS
• Xbox Series X: Native 4K at 60FPS, or 1620p (upscaled to 4K) at 120FPS
• Xbox Series S: 1440p at 60FPS, or 1080p at 120FPS

Knockout City is also a part of November’s free PS Plus titles (which includes 3 bonus VR titles as well this time around), making it an opportune time for players to jump into the action. Those on Xbox consoles can get the game through EA Play, which is included with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.

According to the leak, November’s lineup of PS Plus games will include Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning, The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners, Knockout City, and First Class Trouble. Where The Walking Dead is concerned, the VR title will, of course, be available exclusively for PSVR.

Sony did recently reveal that November’s PS Plus games would also include two additional PSVR titles in celebration of the virtual reality hardware’s fifth anniversary. Though the leak doesn’t mention what those two games are, it does say that they’ll likely be revealed in the State of Play presentation scheduled for later today.

We’ll keep an eye out for any new updates until then, so stay tuned.

There’s a new map called Prison Yard, which is filled with graffiti themed around hackers. There will also be new opponents that players will fight – such as drones and turrets. Of course, there’s a brand new Brawl Pass for the season as well, which includes themed cosmetic items that players can earn at a consistent pace.

Knockout City has proven to be a hit for Velan Studios. It received widespread praise from critics and players at launch and has gone on to amass a healthy playerbase. Fans have also been lapping up the new content that the developer has been providing since launch, and hopefully, this new Season shakes up the gameplay in even more interesting ways.

Knockout City‘s season 2 is titled, “At the movies” and includes gear and cosmetics related to pop culture. There are new map layouts, ranging anywhere from a fort to a baby’s bedroom. A new ball in the form of a Soda Can was also revealed, and Season 2 begins on July 27th. Details on season 2 were revealed earlier as well- read more on that through here.

Knockout City released earlier this year to great reviews, combining great visuals with an addictive gameplay loop. It’s free to play until Street Rank 25, so interested fans might want to check it out right now. Knockout City is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and Nintendo Switch.