Marvel Games may have scored gold with their Overwatch clone Marvel Rivals, but the same can’t be said for Star Wars.
Star Wars Hunters was an Overwatch clone featuring characters from a galaxy far, far away. Though the game received excellent reviews, it will only be available to play until October.
The Sunsets on Vespaara
According to developers Zynga, the final content update for Star Wars: Hunters will happen on April 15, and the game will only remain playable until October 1, 2025. Here’s the official announcement:
The announcement comes three months after the reveal that Hunters was also being primed for a PC release. With this cancellation, it looks like that won’t be happening anymore, which is a shame since many fans thought that a PC release was just the boost Hunters needed to get on the map.
The announcement on the official blog reads:
“We understand this news may be disappointing and want to assure you that this decision was not made lightly. Your passion and dedication to the game and its community have meant the world to us, and we are committed to providing visibility and updates throughout the transition process.”
Relevant Dates till Shutdown
March 15, 2025 – Season 5 of Star Wars: Hunters will be extended for three weeks. Players will be given more time to reach the Kyber 1 rank, and the game will re-run events and shop bundles for the Season.
April 15, 2025 - In-game purchases will be suspended, and the final content update will be released. The developers will also release a new support hunter, Tuya, who will be available for free and immediately playable for everyone.
There will also be a final Ranked Mode leaderboard that will run until…
October 1, 2025 – Online servers for Star Wars: Hunters will be officially shut down, and the game won’t be available to play anywhere.
It’s also worth noting that in-game purchases will not be refunded, and the announcement was made to give everyone a heads-up to spend all the in-game currency they have on hand.
For anyone who has an account but has uninstalled the game, Star Wars: Hunters will still be available in the store until the shutdown in October, so they had better spend the next few months playing it to the fullest.
A Damn Shame
With all the great reviews coming out for Hunters on mobile and Switch, fans were sure that the PC release was the final push that the game needed to be viable, but it looks like Lucasfilm Games didn’t think that would change anything down the line.
It’s perplexing that Marvel Rivals would manage to succeed where Hunters failed, but it’s possible that there was just more to Rivals compared to this ‘Overwatch on mobile.’ It’s possible Hunters was fighting an uphill battle with their new original characters compared to Rivals, which had established heroes from other mediums.
Maybe a new Star Wars/Overwatch clone will take up the mantle that Hunters has dropped, but it could be quite some time before another studio would take a stab at it.
How about that Star Wars Battlefront III?
Star Wars: Hunters will be available for mobile and Nintendo Switch until Oct. 1.