Evolve is shutting down. One of the former developers explains what went wrong and uncovers issues.
After just a short lifespan, the 4vs1 monster game Evolve is being discontinued. In a few months, just under two years after the last update, the official servers will close, leaving only limited game modes available.
Designer and story writer Matt Colville spoke up on Twitter as some fans mourned the downfall of Evolve. He shared insider details and explained what went wrong during the development of Evolve.
Those wanting fun in Evolve had to spend €300
According to Matt Colville, Evolve should have launched as a Free2Play title from the start to be successful in the long run. The problem was not only the barrier of nearly €60 to enter the game, but another one: players.
Evolve relied too heavily on cooperation and communication. One couldn’t simply “jungle for 20 minutes and occasionally gank someone while doing their own thing.” Evolve required cooperation from the first to the last second of the match. This meant needing friends – three to four other players who would also have to fork out €60. €300 for a game where individuals can only have fun together is a huge hurdle.
Developers were not allowed to patch: Another nail in the coffin was the fact that developers could only release an update approximately every three months. If an exploit was discovered and spread in the game, developers often had a fix ready within hours. However, they could only publish it at the next patch date, which was predetermined. For a competitively run game, this was a disaster. With more and more discovered exploits, the player count dwindled, and many did not even get the saving update.
The 4vs1 game principle failed in reality. The developers knew how the finished game should be played – and that’s how they played it themselves. Colville describes it as a kind of “roleplay” in how they played Evolve. The hunters exploring a planet together while needing to hunt down the beast. This was fun and great. However, this illusion shattered when a team member played to win. Mechanics, balance, and many other little things came to the forefront, and the game never recovered from that.
Bad PR was the last straw. Much negative press and loud opinions in the forums were, according to Colville, the drop that made the bucket overflow. Back then, pre-ordering and paid DLCs were painted in a negative light and were criticized as sharply as loot boxes are today. Colville found much of this criticism unfair and unjustified, but people didn’t care. Once an avalanche starts rolling, it cannot be stopped.
In summary, there are many reasons why Evolve failed. However, the developers seem to have been the least of the problems.
