Knockout City is permanently shutting down on June 6
If you are an avid player of Knockout City, then we have some pretty disappointing news for you. Knockout City will be KOed and permanently shutting down on June 6 and the game will no longer be playable. That marks just a little over 2 years since the game was released. With that being said, Velan Studios have also announced that Season 9, which begins on February 28, will be the last season.
What brought so many gamers to play Knockout City when it was first released was the originality behind the video game. There aren’t a lot of dodgeball style video games on the marker right now and none that quite combined dodgeball and battling around a map. The concept was very unique and that is what people loved most about the game.
Since Season 9 will be the ninth and final Season, there is no need to have real-money transactions available. On February 28, all real-money transactions will be removed, and you will no longer be able to purchase certain bundles. This means that if you want to load up on Holobux, you are going to have to do that before February 28. That doesn’t mean the final season is going to be a dud. Actually, Season 9 events are going to be jammed packed with rewards so that gamers can really get the most out of the game one last time. The in-game shops will also feature massive discounts and almost every cosmetic that has ever been sold in Knockout City will be making its way back into the game one last time.
As we get closer to the June 6 end date, Velan Studios will host its finale event on May 23. May 23 will mark the 2-week farewell. Jeremy Russo, a Game Director of Knockout City, describes the final event as “in-game celebration of Knockout City, featuring TRIPLE XP, massive rewards, and the return of the community’s favorite playlist, Superpowers: Power Grab.” Jeremy also goes on to state even further that during the final event, “Knockout City celebrations are also taking place outside the game! This includes giveaways galore, a huge, final tournament for our competitive players, some new merch that looks back on the amazing years of Knockout City, a final season of Deep Space Dispatches we’ll be releasing in a new podcast feed to wrap up the story, and a bunch of other surprises!”
A big question that is being asked in regards to the news of Knockout City being shut down is why? To sum up what Velan Studios said as to what the reason was, they have a very small team being an Indie Developer. If they want to grow as a company, they will have to make changes. Those changes can’t be made while trying to fully support Knockout City. The good news is that based off of the success that Knockout City had, they are able to take what they have learned and bring that experience to future projects down the line. Velan Studios aren’t the ones shutting down. They plan on coming out with more projects down the line and to do that and grow, Knockout City has to be shut down.
Interesting enough, they mention in their blog post on their website that there will be a Private Hosted Server for the PC. This means that a sperate version of Knockout City will be able to be downloaded, so that you can still host private matches and join other friends’ servers even after the game is permanently shut down. This is a way for Velan Studios to preserve a part of Knockout City for a very long time.
Unfortunately, since the Private Hosted Server that is being released is not in any way connected to their live servers, no unlocks or progress will be carried over. However, they do go on to state that more on exactly what to expect with the Private Server will be revealed as we get closer to it being released.
So, does this news make you upset? If you are an avid Knockout City fan, of course it does. There aren’t many video games out there like Knockout City and there probably never will be. I am excited to see what the future holds for Velan Studios, and I wish them nothing but the best on their future projects!