'CrossfireX' and 'Knockout City' join the list of live service games shutting down soon

engadget.com:

It's a rough time for fans of several live service games, which are titles designed to be constantly updated for a long time. A bunch are shutting down in the near future, and CrossfireX and Knockout City are among the latest to join the list.

CrossfireX is an Xbox console version of the massively popular tactical shooter Crossfire. After some delays, it arrived less than a year ago, but it wasn't a hit with critics or, more crucially, the public. Developer Smilegate has stopped selling the game (the multiplayer component is free-to-play, but the Remedy-developed single-player campaign is not) and is offering refunds for purchases made in the last two weeks. It will shut off the CrossfireX servers on May 18th.

Knockout City, meanwhile, is a fun dodgeball brawler that debuted in 2021. The game went free-to-play last year when developer Velan Studios parted ways with EA to self-publish it. Alas, Knockout City is shutting down too. Its ninth season will be the final one and the servers will close on June 6th. On a positive note, Velan will roll out an option for PC players to run the game on private servers.

We have an important announcement about the future of Knockout City. Season 9 will be our final Season. All servers will be shut down on June 6th. We have more in store, so stay tuned!Learn more about the upcoming sunset in our latest blog: https://t.co/15hTpzmSyq

Smilegate and Velan are far from alone in closing down live service games recently. Meta's Ready At Dawn studio said this week it would shutter Echo VR, a zero-gravity frisbee title previously known as Echo Arena, on August 1st. It also emerged over the last week or so that Apex Legends Mobile, Battlefield Mobile, Rumbleverse, Crayta and others are closing shop.