Due to declining player numbers, Battlerite's next season may be its last

Battlerite will get its third Battle Pass later this month, but it may be the last, according to a statement by Stunlock Studios. Citing declining player numbers and investment, the well-received MOBA hybrid will have its development scaled back, with the studio investigating how best to handle both Battlerite and its battle royale component as it moves to new projects.

"With the state of the current playerbase we’re no longer in a position where working on Battlerite and Battlerite Royale are sustainable as main projects for the studio," Stunlock wrote. "We’ve seen declining player numbers and player investment for a while now, and diminishing returns on all of our latest gameplay changes and marketing campaigns. While players are willing to try out Battlerite and Battlerite Royale for a while, retaining them has always been our biggest challenge."

As a result the game's long in-development Tournament System will no longer materialise. "There were a lot of things that we weren’t able to finish, the most notable of these being the Tournament System, which has been in production for a long, long time now. Unfortunately this seems to be the end of the project, and it remains to be one of our greatest regrets for Battlerite that we weren’t able to complete it for you."

As for Battle Season 3, that will still go live on July 10, along with some much requested changes. There's also a new Public Custom Lobby for Arena, and the cost of Champions has been drastically reduced. All the details on the new season will come via a dedicated patch update next week.

"On our end we’ll keep looking at how to serve the games and what’s possible for them while we move on to the next project," the studio wrote. "We’ll be taking everything we’ve learned from Battlerite – what worked, what didn’t work, what we could have done better, and more – to the next game and growing from it all. You’ll hear from us again in the future on the future development plans for Battlerite and when our next project is ready."

It's sad news: Chris Thursten reviewed Battlerite very well back in 2017, writing, "Deep but accessible, Battlerite is packed with smart decisions and reliably creates great competitive moments."

Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.