‘Rumbleverse’ retires despite never getting the title shot it wholeheartedly deserved

The free-to-play self-described Brawler Royale Rumbleverse, has been taken offline. Iron Galaxy Studios, the team behind the game, announced on Feb. 1, that the live-service game would be taken down on Feb. 28. As the game was released on Aug. 11, 2022, it was only online for just over six months.

Rumbleverse had you take control and create your own characters to jump into Grapital City to fight and come out on top against 39 other players. The combat was mostly wrestling-based, and it was a different type of Battle Royale. The genre has been popularized by Fortnite, but it has been iterated upon to include more than just shooters, with Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout being another example of this. 

Just because the game is shutting down after only six months, it does not mean that it was a bad game, as it was actually fun to play. Perfectly aiming an elbow drop after jumping from the top of a skyscraper is certainly a memorable experience. Rumbleverse was published by Epic Games, the same company behind Fortnite. While Fortnite is known for its bonkers collaborations ranging from Marvel to Dragon Ball Z, Rumbleverse was definitely not that large. 

The thing is, the game most likely did not make much in microtransactions compared to the amount of work they put into the game’s seasons, which would probably be the reason the game is being sunsetted. It does raise the question as to whether these games should come with a price tag, especially as six months isn’t that long for a multiplayer game to find its sea legs. 

Live-service games are being taken offline more regularly than ever, with Babylon’s Fall, Marvel’s Avengers, and Knockout City all coming to a close. Thankfully, this will not be the last we hear from Iron Galaxy Studios, as they have inferred that they are currently in development on another game. Hopefully, this one will come with a price tag and be around longer than just six months. 

The good news is that if you were a major Rumbleverse fan, you are eligible for a refund for any money you have spent on the game. You can go here for all the information regarding refunds on different platforms. Ultimately, if you played Rumbleverse you might be sad to see it go, but at least you had six months to play it, and enjoy it with your friends.

For now, we’ll have to settle for eating a chicken leg and performing an elbow drop in real life.