The live service graveyard expands yet again as Gundam competitor to Overwatch 2 announces shutdown after less than a year

Despite fairly positive reception at launch less than a year ago, Overwatch 2 competitor Gundam Evolution is already shutting down.

Executive producer Kazuya Maruyama announced the game's pending shutdown in a post shared by publisher Bandai Namco earlier today. Servers will close on November 29, roughly 14 months after its September 2022 launch.  

"We wanted to create a title that brought FPS fans and Gundam fans together," the announcement reads. "We challenged ourselves to create an authentic Gundam FPS game that could be played globally. Unfortunately, we have determined that it is no longer possible for us to provide a service that satisfies our players."

Though its more recent user reviews clearly trend negatively, I distinctly remember hearing some positive noise about Gundam Evolution in the months following its launch. It carved out a spot as a messy but free team-based shooter with awesome mech designs, and in a kinder reality, that might have been enough. Sadly, 'not half bad' doesn't cut it in an industry and a genre where even good games can quickly find themselves hurled into the live service woodchipper. 

The silver lining for enduring Gundam Evolution fans is that the game will continue to receive updates even as it prepares to end service. Season 6 is due August 23 and will add a new unit and two maps, and a final season with another unit and map is planned for October. 

Sales of EVO coins and various microtransaction items will end on July 26, and anyone who already owns such currencies can use them until the game shuts down. To offset this economic change, the dev team says there will be "more opportunities" to earn stuff the true free-to-play way. 

Crystal Dynamics played a similar card following the end of work on Marvel's Avengers, and barely over two weeks ago, the Friday the 13th game maxed out remaining players as part of its own "inevitable goodbye."