Two years after launch, live-service dodgeball game Knockout City is shutting down

On June 6, Velan Studios’ online dodgeball brawler Knockout City will have its servers taken offline, just over two years after going live. Game director Jeremy Russo explained the decision in a special announcement (opens in new tab), writing that, “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.”

Last year, Knockout City went free-to-play and independent, leaving behind Electronic Arts, which had published it as part of the EA Originals label. According to SteamDB’s charts (opens in new tab), the switch to free-to-play temporarily bumped its daily player count from under 200 to over 2,000, though that soon dropped down the 200–300 mark where it’s stayed ever since.