Published on: 01/02/2023

Epic Games, Iron Galaxy to end service of Rumbleverse this month

Epic Games and developer Iron Galaxy Studios will end the service of Rumbleverse, a brawler battle royale game, on February 28, 2023. The game was launched only six months ago.

“The remaining weeks will be a chance to celebrate the competitive spirit you’ve brought to this game,” Iron Galaxy wrote on Rumbleverse’s website.

“There will be more livestreams to play some games with the developers and let them pull the curtain back to share some behind-the-scenes moments from the creative process that built this city.”

In the announcement, Iron Galaxy also explained that players who bought game items — including in-game token Brawla Bills and Battle Passes — would be refunded for their spending. The developer promised to share an FAQ page with the comprehensive refund information later.

Despite the game’s short life, Iron Galaxy expressed its “sincerest hope” that the shutdown would not be the end of the game, adding that it would work to bring the game back to fans.

Rumbleverse is a variant of the battle royale genre where characters fight each other closely using melee weapons, like axes and swords. Players must work to topple their opponents off skyscrapers or toss them into a body of water to eliminate them.

The game is set in Grapital City, where players can find several points of interest. Players can gather various in-game items at these spots to prepare themselves for the enemies.

Iron Galaxy developed Rumbleverse both as a playable game and a game that people can watch for entertainment. This approach was understandably taken due to the popularity of game streaming on various online platforms, such as Twitch.

Despite that, the game gained a lower level of popularity than the developer and publisher had expected. Analysts said it was one of the biggest factors contributing to its discontinuation only after Season 2.

People were introduced to the Rumbleverse project at The Game Awards 2021. Before its formal launch, Iron Galaxy postponed Rumbleverse’s early access to improve the game, which came out on August 11, 2022.

Rumbleverse is available on Windows PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Xbox One. Although the developer initially planned to launch the game for Nintendo Switch, it would likely shelve the idea.

Founded in 2008, Iron Galaxy has published several popular titles, like Divekick in 2013 and Extinction in 2018. It also worked for Xbox Game Studios for the second and third seasons of Killer Instinct.

Electronic Arts shuts down Apex Legends Mobile

Some battle royale games also faced the same fate as Rumbleverse, the recent one being Apex Legends Mobile. Electronic Arts (EA) and developer Respawn Entertainment announced the news on the same day as Rumbleverse.

The game is the mobile version of Respawn’s popular battle royal shooter Apex Legends. According to the announcement, the mobile game will be offline starting May 1, 2023 — less than a year after its release. Respawn also removed the in-game purchase options and took down the product from digital stores on Tuesday.

On its Twitter account, Respawn described the decision as “painful.” It explained that several factors prevented the development of maintaining the high-quality game players expected.

Despite the project’s quick slump, Respawn said it remained interested in investing in mobile game development. The Los Angeles-based developer asked players to look forward to its future mobile projects.

Apex Legends Mobile was not Respawn’s first attempt to bring its popular game to the mobile sphere. The company previously scrapped two mobile projects within the Titanfall franchise — Titanfall: Frontline and Titanfall: Assault.

On Tuesday, EA also announced the decision to discontinue its Battlefield mobile project with developer DICE. EA said it had decided to pivot from the initial development plan to deliver the best experience to players.