Multiplayer dodgeball game Knockout City has some big news today announcing not only its split from publisher EA, but also that it will become free to play.
Knockout City won’t be picked up by another big publisher but its developer Velan Studios will instead strike out on its own and self-publish.
“From the day we founded our studio, we’ve worked to deliver revolutionary new game experiences to you, our amazing community of players. We couldn’t have introduced Knockout City to the world without the incredible support of EA Originals, but now as we switch to free-to-play, the natural next step is for us to take over publishing responsibilities and work even more closely with our community. We have exciting plans for Knockout City, and bringing publishing in-house will allow us to fully realize our vision for the long-term future of this game. There’s so much to look forward to, because this is just the beginning,” reads the announcement.
It’s funny that the aforementioned announcement is hosted on the official EA website right now. We understand that the break between the developer and publisher will happen gradually but it’s odd that a game leaving EA would announce that on an EA platform.
That aside Velan Studios goes on to explain that it has a lot of work ahead of it balancing the new free to play elements and now publishing duties too.
For players who have already bought the game, you get some rewards in the form of 2 000 Holobux, experience boosts and special legendary cosmetics. The Holobux reward comes with the vague caveat of “where applicable” with no further explanation.
The developer will also be reducing upcoming content as it deals with this huge shift.
“Season 5 will have a little less content than some of our previous seasons. There won’t be a new Brawl Pass for Season 5, we’ll have fewer bundles and new cosmetics for the season, and there’s no new map or new ball. However, this shift in content is only temporary, and we’ll have a new Brawl Pass, more cosmetics, and plenty of new features coming in Season 6, with more new maps and balls coming in future seasons (sneak peek: There’ll be a new Special Ball coming in Season 6, but you’ll have to wait until we’re closer for details!). For now, you will still need an EA Account to play, and your data will be processed in-line with EA’s Privacy & Cookie Policy,” Velan Studios adds.
With huge companies announcing new multi-billion Dollar acquisitions so often it’s a bit strange to see something of the opposite in a smaller company break away from a bigger one.
