‘Natural Selection 2’ has stopped “active development”, ten years after release

16 February, 2023

Unknown Worlds has confirmed that “active development” on Natural Selection 2 has come to an end.

Originally released at the end of 2012, Natural Selection 2 is “a fast paced multiplayer shooter that pits aliens against humans in a strategic and action-packed struggle for survival,” that still holds a Very Positive ranking on Steam.

However since 2014, the player community has handled all major updates, including one in December last year that introduced matched play to the game alongside a new map and improved bots.

In a statement posted across official channels, Unknown Worlds confirmed: “Ten years since its official release and over 117 updates later, active development of Natural Selection 2 has ended.”

“Our team and this community have provided many years of passion and support for this game,” continued the studio. “Over the years we had the opportunity to meet and collaborate with so many of you whether at an expo, live tournament, Discord or playing on a server. We thank you for your support and commitment to NS2 and know that this game would not have been the same without you. Now it’s time to look to the future and continue on to other projects within the company.”

“While we won’t be actively working on Natural Selection 2, we will still continue to host matched play servers so that community members will be able to play games on-demand with other players or bots. Although this isn’t goodbye, we still would like to say a very heartfelt thank you to you, our community and to all of those that worked with us on Natural Selection 2 over the years.”

In 2021, Krafton Inc announced it was acquiring Unknown Worlds and confirmed that “in addition to ongoing updates for Subnautica and Subnautica: Below Zero, Unknown Worlds is currently working on a new genre-defining game”.

Earlier this month, Doom co-creator John Carmack warned companies against shutting down games, following the news of several high-profile closures.

In recent weeks, Fortnite publisher Epic Games put out a statement confirming “brawler royale” Rumbleverse was set to shut down six months after it launched while PvP dodgeball title Knockout City announced it was set to go offline forever this summer.

Ahead of announcing it had lost almost £3.5billion on various metaverse-related projects in the fourth quarter of 2022, Meta announced that hugely popular VR title Echo VR would also be shutting down.

“I believe in saving everything,” said Carmack. “Even if there are only ten thousand active users, destroying that user value should be avoided if possible. Your company suffers more harm when you take away something dear to a user than you gain in benefit by providing something equally valuable to them or others,” he added.

In other news, 2K Sports has shared the soundtrack for WWE 2K23, curated by former wrestler and current Hollywood star John Cena – check it out here.

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