Knockout City Devs Will Return To The Game "When The Time Is Right"

Highlights

Velan Studios plans to revisit Knockout City, but not until the right time.
The studio is currently working on new games, Midnight Murder Club and Bounce Arcade, while still considering Knockout City’s return.
Velan Studios released a ‘Private Server Edition’ of Knockout City on PC, allowing players to continue playing with friends.

Knockout City developer Velan Studios has said it intends to return to the now-shuttered live service title, but not until the time is right.

In February 2023, Velan Studios confirmed that Knockout City would be shut down as of June 6, 2023, a little over 2 years after the game’s initial launch. In a lengthy blog post on the Knockout City website, game director Jeremy Russo said that it was “particularly challenging” to create and run a live service game that is completely different from other games.

10 Best Discontinued Competitive Games

The reason some of the best competitive games stay active for years is an active community, but not all games are lucky enough to have that.

Russo went on to explain that despite the 12 million players that Knockout City attracted in its two-year life span, there were “several aspects of the game in need of major disruption to better attract and retain enough players to be sustainable.” The game director also noted that Velan Studios can’t promise that Knockout City will ever return, but did promise new and innovative games from the studio.

Velan Studios has since gone on to announce two new titles: Midnight Murder Club, a hide-and-seek multiplayer title set to release later this year, and Bounce Arcade, a VR title that mixes pinball classics with new gameplay mechanics, which is set to release for the Meta Quest later this year.

Knockout City Devs Still Want To Bring The Game Back

Despite having two new games set to launch within the same year, Velan Studios says it is also working on “other titles,” whilst also still having its eyes on Knockout City. In a new blog post on the studio’s website, the indie developer said it knows fans are still waiting for Knockout City to return.

“As an indie studio, we love our ability to lean into ideas that excite us, and rest assured we love KO City as much as you do and want to bring it back, *just not yet*,” Velan Studios said.

The studio went on to explain how it spent four years crafting Knockout City the first time around, and don’t want to rush the process for the next game in that universe. “We love that world and can’t imagine not going back to it at some point, when the time is right.”

It’s been over a year since Knockout City was shut down, but Velan Studios did release a ‘Private Server Edition’ of the game on PC earlier this year. The special addition allowed players to continue playing Knockout City on private servers with their friends and can download for free on Steam.