Evolve developer Turtle Rock Studios has announced that it will no longer support the game with future updates and content.
The studio made the announcement yesterday, stating that October 25 will be the last day it works on the ill-fated monster hunting shooter.
“It’s always hard to leave one of our games behind. Left 4 Dead was no different and now it’s Evolve’s turn,” said Turtle Rock founders Chris Ashton and Phil Robb. “There will always be a special place in our hearts for our past projects. No matter what happens with Evolve in the future, we’ll know it was born in this studio and developed by this team alongside this beautiful community.”
The Evolve IP is currently owned by Take-Two Interactive, the parents of Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead. This means the studio likely had little say in the game’s abrupt abandonment.
“This is the life of AAA game developers who aren’t self-funded and don’t own their own IP,” Ashton and Robb go on to say. “We don’t get to make the call. We all know that going in but we still sign the dotted line because we love what we do. We are happy to have gotten the opportunity to do something risky, something new and innovative. We created a brand new sci-fi world. We got to go to planet Shear and interact with alien flora and fauna. We got to hunt down, trap and kill giant monsters together. We got to BE the monster. What an awesome experience.”
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Despite its aggressive pre-order culture and underwhelming launch, Evolve and the concept within it had plenty of potential.
We scored it an impressive 8/10 in our review back in February 2015.
“At its best, Evolve is tense, thrilling and what pundits like to call a game changer, with periods of frantic hunting/fleeing punctuated by explosive confrontations. At its worst, nothing comes together and it all feels strangely flat. We suspect that, with time and experience, we’ll see more of the first than the second, and the game will reveal its true potential. We just hope that this resolves any remaining doubts about long-term appeal.”
Evolve is currently available on PS4, Xbox One and PC. Evolve Stage Two, a free-to-play version of the original game is exclusive to PC, and probably won’t be coming to consoles anymore.
If you’re an avid Evolve player, don’t worry, the servers will remain online for the time being.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
