Usually, when I report on games closing down, there’s some fundamental flaw with the core gameplay that makes the title bad, but it isn’t the case this time around. I’m sad to report that today it was announced that the short-lived team-based FPS, GUNDAM EVOLUTION, will officially shut down its servers starting November 29, 2023.
Earlier in the year, I tried out the game, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the core gameplay. Each mobile suit felt varied and unique, the servers (at the time) were decent enough, and while I never got into the Season 1 Battle Pass, I did play enough to have a pretty positive opinion of the game in its earlier state.
While the title lacked map variation and some of the bells and whistles a fully-fledged game might have, I didn’t expect it to shut down so quickly, especially when the game is backed by a titan in the industry like BANDAI NAMCO.
And as it turns out, I was probably one of the lucky ones, as I didn’t spend any of my cash on extra cosmetics that will now get yeeted into the dark, cold void of dead live-service video games.
What Went Wrong?
Upon looking at the player base for the game, I was pretty shocked to see how quickly the game’s max concurrent players dwindled. At its peak, GUNDAM EVOLUTION pulled in 59,911 concurrent players, which quickly slid into a downward trajectory post-launch.
Today, the game is lucky to have 1,000 players online at any given time. For a F2P game that relies on players making micro-transactions, this might as well have been a death sentence.
The team plans to hold their last signoff via a final video stream on July 21 at 11 p.m. PT / 2 a.m. ET. During the stream, they’ll likely give players more reasons why the title is permanently shutting down.
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