Summary
- Realm Royale Reforged will shut down on February 17, 2025 at 12pm EDT.
- This announcement comes less than three weeks after layoffs at Hi-Rez Studios were confirmed.
- Divine Knockout will also shut down its servers on February 17.
Hi-Rez Studios has announced that Realm Royale Reforged, the studio's battle royale game, will be shutting down on February 17, 2025. The announcement of Realm Royale Reforged's shutdown comes less than three weeks after Hi-Rez CEO Stewart Chisam revealed that the studio would be laying off team members as part of an internal reorganization.
As per an X post from Chisam, the layoffs at Hi-Rez were a product of a "comprehensive review" of the studio's "strategy and operations." This review informed Hi-Rez's decision to focus its efforts almost-entirely on Smite 2, the studio's newest third-person MOBA, and Chisam's post indicated that Smite 1 and Paladins would be the only other titles to receive ongoing support.
Don't Nod Hit With Layoffs
Don't Nod, the French developer known for creating the Life is Strange series, suffers unfortunate job cuts as recent releases struggle.
It is thus not particularly surprising to see support for Hi-Rez's other live-service games come to an end, and Realm Royale Reforged will be among the first taken offline. This is set to occur on February 17, 2025 at 12pm EDT, and the game will be removed from digital storefronts at that time.
Digital Knockout is Also Shutting Down
Realm Royale Reforged is not the only Hi-Rez Studios game shutting down, as Divine Knockout will also be sunsetting its servers on February 17, 2025 at 12pm EDT. While this title, a 3D platform fighter, never had as many players as Realm Royale, it is disappointing to see the game taken offline nonetheless. As with Realm Royale, Divine Knockout will be removed from digital storefronts alongside the shutdown of its servers, making the game unavailable for download.
With support for Realm Royale Reforged and Divine Knockout coming to an end, Hi-Rez Studios is left with four live-service titles: Smite, Smite 2, Paladins, and Rogue Company. While Chisam's aforementioned post confirmed that the first three of those titles will continue to receive varying degrees of updating, it said nothing about Rogue Company. This seems to suggest that the studio also plans to take Rogue Company offline, though that is not currently confirmed.
That said, Rogue Company does appear to be maintaining a slightly larger playerbase on Steam than the titles that are set to be taken offline. Indeed, Rogue Company has a 24-hour peak of over 500 players, while Realm Royale Reforged has a 24-hour peak of just over 300 players and Divine Knockout has a 24-hour peak of under 50 players. While these additional players may not ultimately be enough to justify Rogue Company's continuation, they could encourage Hi-Rez to keep the tactical shooter's servers going beyond February.
- Date Founded
- 2005-00-00
- Subsidiaries
- Evil Mojo Games