2K Games has announced that the four-versus-one multiplayer game by the creators of Left 4 Dead, Evolve, will be losing its dedicated servers across all platforms later this year, and as a result, the ranked Hunt mode, the in-game store, and several other features will be deactivated.
Beyond that, the Evolve Stage 2 free-to-play version that replaced the original on PC in 2016 to boost dwindling player numbers will cease being available as well.
Turtle Rock Studio"s original retail version of the game will return on all platforms sporting the name Legacy Evolve, bringing across all purchased monsters, hunters, and skins. While console players can just launch this version outright, interested PC players must switch over to it via the Betas tab in Stage 2"s Steam properties.
The game will still have functional multiplayer using peer-to-peer matchmaking, and the single-player mode will remain untouched as well. Here is a useful list explaining what exactly will players be losing with this new change:
What features will still be functional in Legacy Evolve?
- Multiplayer:
Peer-to-peer multiplayer: Players will be able to team up and play against each other through peer-to-peer matchmaking. Players are also able to use the party-up feature to create games.
Quick Play
Hunt
Nest
Rescue
Defend
Arena
Evacuation
Custom games
- Single Player (solo vs. AI):
Evacuation
Quick Play
Custom games
- My2K login access
- Access to all hunters, monsters, purchased DLC, skins & player badges
What features are going away?
- Hunt (Ranked):
Players will still be able to play Hunt by going into Quick play and Custom games
- Player Profile data
- Leaderboards will no longer be populated with player data
- The in-game store will be removed
- The newsfeed will be unavailable
- Player Badges will be unavailable
All premium currencies in Evolve Stage 2 will no longer be purchasable starting today, while the dedicated server shutdown and Stage 2"s removals are slated to happen on September 3, 2018. PC players with any stockpiles of premium currencies have until the shutdown date to spend them and receive the items in the Legacy version.