Knockout City | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Mon, 06 Feb 2023 10:40:00 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png Knockout City | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 Knockout City is shutting down online services, but devs promise server hosting tools for PC https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/knockout-city-is-shutting-down-online-services-but-devs-promise-server-hosting-tools-for-pc/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/knockout-city-is-shutting-down-online-services-but-devs-promise-server-hosting-tools-for-pc/#respond Fri, 03 Feb 2023 14:16:51 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=592361 Knockout City didn't end up being the multiplayer hit the developers were hoping for, and while the team will be moving on from the game soon and shutting down official servers, the game won't be left to wither away. Rather than letting development efforts go to waste, the team is now preparing a private server …

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Knockout City didn't end up being the multiplayer hit the developers were hoping for, and while the team will be moving on from the game soon and shutting down official servers, the game won't be left to wither away. Rather than letting development efforts go to waste, the team is now preparing a private server update for the game on PC, allowing the community to keep the game alive. 

We've seen many multiplayer games shut down services over the years. While in the old days of PC gaming, private servers and hosting tools were more common, nowadays it is rare to see that stuff included in games, meaning once a developer decides to move on, these titles end up being inaccessible. That won't be happening with Knockout City.

The developers have already stuck with the game through some tough times. Initially, the game launched in 2021, with EA as the publisher. However, one year after launch, EA dropped out and Velan Studios took on self-publishing duties instead.

Unfortunately, the game still hasn't found a sustainable audience over the past year and as a result, Velan Studios is winding down development. Season 9 will be the game's final season, and then on the 6th of June, the game's official servers will go offline for all platforms, including console and PC.

While the game will no longer be available on console, it will live on for PC players. In an effort to ensure the game can “live forever”, Velan Studios is now preparing private server hosting tools for the PC version. There will be more details shared on this soon, but hopefully it will end up being a simple and easy solution.

Such a move ensures the game can be preserved for future generations and it allows fans to revisit it at any time, even if they do have to put in some extra work getting a group of players together.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: A move like this proves that this game was a passion project and not just seen as a money-making scheme. It is certainly something I think we all wish more developers would do when sunsetting online game services. 

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Knockout City drops EA as game goes free-to-play https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/mustafa-mahmoud/knockout-city-drops-ea-as-game-goes-free-to-play/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/mustafa-mahmoud/knockout-city-drops-ea-as-game-goes-free-to-play/#respond Fri, 25 Feb 2022 19:00:55 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=551704 Knockout City surprised many when it launched last year, offering a fun take of the sport of dodgeball. Despite the game’s position as a live service title, it has struggled to maintain its following with a 24 hour peak of 123 players on Steam. The studio has now announced that they are making big moves …

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Knockout City surprised many when it launched last year, offering a fun take of the sport of dodgeball. Despite the game’s position as a live service title, it has struggled to maintain its following with a 24 hour peak of 123 players on Steam. The studio has now announced that they are making big moves to help remedy this.

Making the announcement on EA’s website, the Knockout City team discussed the future of the game amid its impending second year on the market, saying “after Season 5 is over, we’re going to be kicking off Year 2 of Knockout City, and it comes with one huge headline to mix things up: Knockout City is going free-to-play, beginning this spring with Season 6! We’re really excited to bring our game to millions of new players around the world, by removing the price tag entirely.”

For those who purchased the game, Velan Studios announced a “Season 6 Loyalty Bundle” which will come with “exclusive legendary cosmetics, XP boosts, and 2,000 Holobux” alongside saying “we do want to take a moment to thank our day one fans for purchasing Knockout City and supporting us from the very beginning. Your dedication and loyalty motivates us everyday to continue to build our world, and we couldn’t have gotten this far without you. Our first priority will always be our community.”

The final major announcement came in the form of Velan Studios revealing that they will soon be self-publishing Knockout City, freeing the game from previous distributor EA. Explaining the decision, they said:

“From the day we founded our studio, we’ve worked to deliver revolutionary new game experiences to you, our amazing community of players. We couldn’t have introduced Knockout City to the world without the incredible support of EA Originals, but now as we switch to free-to-play, the natural next step is for us to take over publishing responsibilities and work even more closely with our community. We have exciting plans for Knockout City, and 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.”

Knockout City is a fun and colourful multiplayer game with the potential to be the next Splatoon. It will be interesting to see whether going free-to-play ultimately helps or hinders them on that journey.

Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.

KitGuru says: What do you think of Knockout City? Will you give Season 6 a try? How can Velan Studios improve the game? Let us know down below.

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Knockout City goes free-to-start https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/mustafa-mahmoud/knockout-city-goes-free-to-start/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/mustafa-mahmoud/knockout-city-goes-free-to-start/#respond Tue, 01 Jun 2021 15:00:25 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=517806 Knockout City is a competitive team-based multiplayer title inspired by the real-world sport of dodgeball. Initially a premium game, Knockout City has now been made free-to-start following a successful free trial. Knockout City launched on the 21st of May, retailing for £17.99. For the game’s first 10 days of release, the game was made entirely …

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Knockout City is a competitive team-based multiplayer title inspired by the real-world sport of dodgeball. Initially a premium game, Knockout City has now been made free-to-start following a successful free trial.

Knockout City launched on the 21st of May, retailing for £17.99. For the game’s first 10 days of release, the game was made entirely free-to-play in order to bring attention to the game. This proved to be successful for EA, as the game saw more than 2 million players flock to the game during this time.

Following the conclusion of the 10 day ‘block party’, EA has now announced that “Block Party is over, but new players to Knockout City can still start brawlin' for free! If your friends are just joining us, they'll be able to play for free and level up to Street Rank 25 before purchasing the game. That’s also enough game time to teach them to pass the ball.”

Knockout City is just one of many new and more colourful competitive online games which don’t use guns. Other notable titles include Splatoon, Ninjala, Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare and more.

Following the plethora of dull and brown military shooters which had plagued most of the latter half of the 2000s and the early half of the 2010’s, it is nice to see more colours and unique mechanics being added into online games. It will be interesting to see if this free-to-start strategy pays off.

Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.

KitGuru says: Have you tried Knockout City? Will you try it? Is free-to-start the way to go? Let us know down below.

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