Featured Image Credit: Zynga
Topics: Star Wars, Steam, Nintendo Switch
The Steam port of a Star Wars game that already saw release on other platforms has seemingly been cancelled, following news that the game will be permanently shutting down in October.
Thank you in advance to PC Gamer’s Andy Chalk for the original source!
Back in June last year, Star Wars: Hunters was released on the Nintendo Switch and mobile to decidedly middling reviews.
The Nintendo Switch version of the game is currently sitting at a 57 on Metacritic and only 40% of critics recommend the game on OpenCritic, but this feedback didn’t stop developer and publisher Zynga from announcing a PC port of the title on Steam.
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Well, at least at first anyway. As revealed in a press release on the official Star Wars: Hunters website, the live-service arena shooter will be permanently closing down later this year.
“Thank you for your incredible support and for being part of the world of Vespaara,” states the press release.
“After careful consideration, we want to let you know that the final content update for Star Wars: Hunters on all platforms will be on April 15th. The game will remain playable until October 1st, 2025, when the game’s online servers will be shut down.”
The press release doesn’t explicitly state that the Steam port is cancelled, but let’s be real - there’s no reason they’d continue spending money on a PC port if they can no longer monetise the game anyway.
Over in a thread on the r/gaming subreddit, those who have played the game shared their disappointment at the news of its cancellation.
“Such a bummer too. It's made for casual play, it's not complicated, has cool modes, and is really fun,” commented user JarrettTheGuy.
“I don't know how zinga f**ked up so much that it didn't make money, but no promotion and not getting it to PC or PS5/Xbox were brainless mistakes.”
“This was actually good game. The characters were interesting and unique if not the marquis star wars characters,” replied user Camden_yardbird.
“The games were short and manageable, didn't last more than 5 minutes. You could play mobile with a portable controller. It was not pay to win, and for those who like cosmetics there were a lot of those that weren't just color swaps.”
Unfortunately, this is probably going to be the norm for a while now, as publishers continue to replicate the success of other live-service games– especially in the wake of the extremely successful Marvel Rivals.
Almost makes me hope they never actually bother making Star Wars Battlefront III…