Knockout City is leaving Electronic Arts behind and going free-to-play
Velan Studio's dodgebrawler Knockout City is an excellent and original multiplayer experience: PC Gamer's own Morgan Park awarded it 90% and summed up its take on dodgeball as «simply excellent.» It looked like the game had got off to a great start too, with over 2 million players taking advantage of the trial period around launch to get in on the action. Nine months down the line, however, things aren't looking so rosy.
A new post on the game's official site has some big announcements about the game's future. It starts with a rundown of the ongoing season 5's offerings before the news that «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.»
Knockout City always had a free trial element to it, whereby players could go up to rank 25 without buying the game, but this is new—and unfortunately does make one wonder whether charging for the game upfront was the right decision. The announcement just about acknowledges that those who've bought the game may feel a little nonplussed about this, and thus a «loyalty bundle» will arrive for them in season 6 with «exclusive legendary cosmetics, XP boosts, and 2,000 Holobux.»
The other big news is that the game is no longer going to be published by EA. Knockout City was one of the games signed to the EA Originals label, which per the publisher's own spiel «exists to deliver unique and memorable gaming experiences to our players, from the best independent studios.»
Now Velan Studios will be self-publishing the game, with the changeover happening at an unspecified time later this year. «We couldn’t have introduced Knockout City to the world
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