Robot Entertainment Officially Starts Shut-Down of Orcs Must Die, Hero Academy

When Robot Entertainment laid off 30 employees last year and stopped updating their latest Orcs Must Die! game, it was a rather foregone conclusion that there were big changes on the horizon and Orcs Must Die! Unchained wasn't coming along for the ride. Still, despite a lack of updates, the game has been running uninterrupted since then, although the community around it has certainly waned significantly. And now, Robot Entertainment has made the inevitable announcement: they're officially going to shut down their current games and start fresh with two, new, unannounced titles.

"Making and supporting a game is a long and challenging journey. Along the way, there are plenty of highs and plenty of lows. The communities who play our games join us on these journeys. We know this decision affects our players as much as it does us

We've kept these games operating at a financial loss for many months. Unfortunately, it's no longer sustainable for us to do so. We must shift our focus to future games and make our investments there."

Orcs Must Die! Unchained and Hero Academy 2 will be shutting down on April 8, and players who decide to log in for a few final rounds will be gifted a rather substantial amount of both free and premium currencies to enjoy before things finally shut down. Hero Academy 1 will also be shutting down, but that was first released in 2012 with very, very few players, which is why they won't be getting much of anything before it shuts down for good.

Still. There are no layoffs this time around, and Robot Entertainment seems ready to bounce back with new games, which they'll be announcing later. I always liked these guys despite their reliance on loot boxes, so I hope it'll all work out for them in the end.