Knockout City already has over 2 million players

Knockout City key art.
(Image credit: Electronic Arts)

EA's temporarily free-to-play ball-chucker Knockout City has amassed over two million players within a few days of release, the publisher announced last night.

Pardon me for being cynical, but I was sort of preparing for Knockout City to fall flat on arrival. The game's reveal trailer was widely ridiculed, and Tyler walked away from an early preview feeling unimpressed. EA had also just seen Rocket Arena (a similarly quirky arena shooter) fumble. What hope did 3v3 dodgeball have?

And yet, despite everything, it seems to have taken off.

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Now, it probably helps that Knockout City is free to play for its first ten days, making a dip into superpowered dodgeball an easier ask. The game also launched with full cross-play, in an effort to make sure the game had the best shot possible in sustaining a playerbase. 

But it also seems Knockout City simply turned out to be a fun, accessible, and surprisingly complex competitive shooter. Our Morgan's been playing it all week, and reckons it could be the freshest multiplayer game of the year.

"I'm impressed with how harmoniously Knockout City's mechanics gel together. Even when I'm ganged up on in a 1v3, I have the opportunity to either dodge or catch every ball sent my way. The basic rules of dodgeball naturally create comeback scenarios where I'm repeatedly catching/throwing/catching/throwing until I'm the last one standing. It's downright intoxicating."

It'll pay to see how much of this audience Knockout City retains when it pulls up a $20 pricetag at the end of the month. But with the game's first season starting today (bringing with it a new map, playlist, and ranked League Play), Knockout City doesn't look to be dodging away anytime soon.

Natalie Clayton
Features Producer

20 years ago, Nat played Jet Set Radio Future for the first time, and she's not stopped thinking about games since. Joining PC Gamer in 2020, she comes from three years of freelance reporting at Rock Paper Shotgun, Waypoint, VG247 and more. Embedded in the European indie scene and a part-time game developer herself, Nat is always looking for a new curiosity to scream about—whether it's the next best indie darling, or simply someone modding a Scotmid into Black Mesa. She also unofficially appears in Apex Legends under the pseudonym Horizon.