Battalion 1944 studio splits with Square Enix, announces free Legacy edition coming to Steam
Battalion 1944(opens in new tab) launched into early access in 2018 as a throwback to the early days of the Call of Duty games. There were some troubles, predictable for an early access game, but it seemed like a very strong start(opens in new tab) for a niche multiplayer FPS. Square Enix, which had published Battalion 1944 under its indie-focused Square Enix Collective, apparently thought so too: It acquired a 20% stake(opens in new tab) in developer Bulkhead in November 2018.
Unfortunately, neither the game nor the relationship between Bulkhead and Square Enix worked out quite as hoped. Battalion 1944's average concurrent player count has been stuck in single-digits since mid-2020, a console release that was promised in a 2016 Kickstarter never happened, and today Bulkhead announced that it has «formally ended» its relationship with Square Enix.
An announcement about @PlayBattalion pic.twitter.com/pvFQJx8ibzAugust 9, 2022
«We are deeply disappointed that Battalion 1944 never made it to console and we will be refunding all console Kickstarter backers,» the studio said. «Thank you to everyone that backed the console version and we’re sorry it has taken so long to rectify this.»
The announcement brings to an end an unhappy process that dragged on for years longer than intended. Bulkhead promised as recently as April 2021 that the console version of Battalion 1944 was «still being made.»
«Loads of stuff we can’t talk about currently sorry,» community manager Aaron Baker wrote on Reddit(opens in new tab). «Will become more apparent in the future. I know it’s a shitty situation but that’s just the way it is for the time being.»
Ironically, Baker said in the same thread that a shift to free-to-play «won't be happening,» yet
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