After two years, Knockout City will be closing up shop in June. Velan Studios, the team who developed Mario Kart Live also worked on the popular free-to-play dodgeball title.
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
— Knockout City (@knockoutcity) February 3, 2023
The news came from the official Knockout City Twitter account. In a statement, we learn that on June 6, 2023, the servers will be shut down and the game will go offline.
“This was an extremely difficult decision for us, but a necessary and important one for our studio,” the post says. “Velan Studios’ mission is grounded in innovation. For Knockout City, we set out to make something fresh and fun, starting with just those initial ideas of third-person dodgeball, throw-catch rallies, and balling up to become the weapon.”
“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. So it became clear to us that we needed to take a step back and pave the way for Velan to do what we do best by innovating. Now we can take everything we learned, everything that succeeded and everything that needs improvement, and get to work on exploring new possible experiences for Knockout City and other games and products we are very excited about.”
The post itself is worth reading as it explains that over the last two years, the studio has learned a lot about Knockout City and live games. On February 28, Season 9 kicks off, you’ll notice all real-money transactions will go offline. This means you’ll no longer be able to purchase Holobux, the Deluxe Bundle, or either of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Bundles on any platform. Velan is making up for it by offering XP, style chips, and the currency Holobux. Additionally, “almost every cosmetic” will make its way into the sale shops.
A two-week long event begins on May 9 once Season 9 concludes, with triple XP, rewards, and community favourite playlists, Superpowers: Power Grab.
Velan Studios says the Private Hosted Server edition of Knockout City will be available for free on PC in the coming months. More details will be available in the coming months.
This week alone, we’ve seen several live service titles close shop, with EA’s Apex Legends Mobile shuttering, Battlefield Mobile being cancelled, and Iron Galaxy closing down Rumbleverse.
