When Valve took over Left 4 Dead, developers Turtle Rock Studios decided to shift their focus onto a new type of multiplayer game. Similar to how their 4-player co-op zombie survival shooter ushered in a new genre, their next title, Evolve, looked to do the same. But lightning doesn't always strike twice.
Originally released in early 2015 their newest attempt to transform the multiplayer genre was eventually transferred over to a free-2-play platform when warm praise and several awards didn't translate to a sustainable playerbase. Now, however, toward the end of 2016, Turtle Rock Studios have called time on the PvP survival sim through a heartfelt forum post.
With "lots of stuff in the works", the studio isn't finishing up work on Evolve to close its doors. Though they don't mention any specific title currently in the oven, they explicitly thank publishing hour 2K for picking them up when THQ went down.
"Most of all, we want to thank you, our players, for supporting Evolve and Evolve: Stage 2, many of you from the very beginning. You embraced our vision and fell in love with it just as we did. We have learned so much from you. Thank you all for your feedback, your support and your dedication."
While the servers will stay online for the foreseeable future, the halt in development purely pertains to how the title will never receive another update.