Evolve Stage 2 development complete. 2K in control and no more updates

Evolve was brought back from the dead when it moved to a free to play model, developer Turtle Rock managed to turn it around with Stage 2 and somewhat revived what was effectively a dead game.

2K has now announced that Turtle Rock as completed development on Stage 2 and the day-to-day running is now being handed over to 2K. 2K also says that development will now “continue in-house”.

The update also states they are still “experimenting” with the business model and they are now focused on bringing in new players and maintaining the game’s PC player base. 2K obviously haven’t quite figured out how to make the game profitable.

An FAQ was posted which answers some basic questions, although the “Are Stage 2 servers staying online? ” question comes with the answer of, “Yes, Evolve Stage 2 servers will remain online for the foreseeable future”. How long they stay online will largely depend on that business model they haven’t figured out yet.

Players who want new content are also out of luck. 2k say, “No future updates are currently planned, as development on Evolve Stage 2 is complete”.

The fact that no updates are planned doesn’t bode well as players will get bored and move on to something else. It’s at the point Evolve Stage 2 will go the same way as Evolve. Let’s hope 2K can stop that happening.

Turtle Rock posted their own farewell message and the following sums up the problem when you don’t own the IP.

It’s always hard to leave one of our games behind. Left4Dead was no different and now it’s Evolve’s turn. There will always be a special place in our hearts for our past projects. No matter what happens with Evolve in the future, we’ll know it was born in this studio and developed by this team alongside this beautiful community.

This is the life of AAA game developers who aren’t self-funded and don’t own their own IP. We don’t get to make the call. We all know that going in but we still sign the dotted line because we love what we do. We are happy to have gotten the opportunity to do something risky, something new and innovative. We created a brand new Sci-Fi world. We got to go to planet Shear and interact with alien flora and fauna. We got to hunt down, trap and kill giant monsters together. We got to BE the monster. What an awesome experience.