Giant combat mechs are getting scrapped, as Reloaded Games, developer of "Hawken," announces that the game will be shut down for the PC next year.
In an official website posting, Reloaded Games thanked the community for the game's success since its release in 2014. The developers, unfortunately, now have to shut down their PC servers for "Hawken" to refocus their development efforts. "Hawken" is scheduled to be removed from Steam on Jan. 2, 2018 along with all its downloadable contents (DLCs). Some other transactions have been pulled out of the Steam page as early as Monday, Oct. 2.
The development team, however, was optimistic and still wanted to create more great games based on the player base feedback and experience; they plan on making good use of the things they learned in "Hawken" for PC.
"Hawken" will still be available for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 (PS4) though there has been no official statement from the developers as to whether the PC version shutdown will affect the console versions. Games Industry assumed that by "refocusing efforts," Reloaded meant that they will be prioritizing the improvement of the console versions of the game, or they will have a brand new project will soon replace "Hawken."
It is worth noting that this was not the first time "Hawken" had to be abandoned. Its first and primary developers, indie company Adhesive Games were responsible for the title, which was released back in 2012 as a free-to-play multiplayer online game. Meteor Entertainment, the game's publisher, had financial difficulties with the game, even after a $10-million investment capital, forcing its offices to close in 2014. Reloaded Games then acquired the title and kept it afloat for the past three years.
Needless to say, the community was unhappy with the news of the shutdown, as is evident in the recent influx of negative Steam reviews for the game, bringing the recent review rating to "Mixed" from an overall rating of "Very Positive." Now, only 59 percent of the game's reviews are positive due to the recent shutdown news.
PC owners can still continue playing the free-to-play title until its eventual server shutdown on Jan. 2, 2018.
