Ubisoft May Cancel Another Game Barely Months After Its Debut [UPDATED]

Update

Ubisoft finally addressed all the rumors about the alleged cancelation of Roller Champions. The company assured that it has no plans to abandon the game - on the contrary, it wants to prepare more fixes and novelties. The developer intends to focus on updates to Roller Champions, which will introduce and improve things that players themselves have asked for. The explanation and future plans for the game were shared on its account on Twitter.

Original message

Roller Champions was revealed in 2019. A year later, closed alpha testing began, followed by an open beta. The game's premiere was delayed a bit, but the title finally debuted in May this year as a free-to-play game, with Nintendo Switch owners playing Roller Champions only since June. Despite such a short presence on the market the title may soon be canceled. During a recent XboxEra podcast, journalist Jeff Grubb revealed information that Ubisoft will remove Roller Champions already after the game's third season. Half of the second season has recently passed.

Pass the ball!

The shutdown of the servers has not been announced by Ubisoft in any way. Despite the fact that Roller Champions does not attract many players - streams on Twitch are watched by less than 100 people, and you sometimes have to wait up to a few minutes for an in-game match - Ubisoft is vigorously updating the title. A larger update is due soon, introducing, among other things, the option of using cross-play in one team (Roller Champions is available on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC and Switch), or improved ranked matchmaking regardless of rank.

During the YouTube podcast hosted by XboxEra, it was said that Roller Champions will be canceled after season three. Season two is currently underway, and if the length of the seasons is not significantly different, Roller Champions will vanish in about 90 days. To date, however, there has been no official word from Ubisoft on the subject.

But the ball is stuck in the wall....

The premise of the game is quite interesting - six players divided into two teams face each other in the arena, all moving on roller skates or inline skates. The task of the players is to complete laps without losing the ball, and then hit the round goal. Opponents are allowed to push each other, causing the opponent to drop the ball. The more laps a team makes, the more points it receives. Thus, one lap is one point, two gives three points, and three laps is as many as five points - exactly the number needed to win. The games are not long, as they last only seven minutes, with another three added in case of a tie. Of course, the game might as well end after just a minute, if a skilled team manages to complete three laps.

Source: Epic Games Store

The idea is good, with the execution a little worse. Since the release, Roller Champions has been facing minor or major bugs, effectively hindering a pleasant experience. It is the numerous shortcomings and poor marketing that may translate into a low number of players in Roller Champions. In fact, the same problem was faced by Hyper Scape, a free-to-play FPS that Ubisoft stopped supporting just a year after its release.

Shutting down the servers of Roller Champions would represent a continuation of Ubisoft's streak of failures. The company recently announced the cancelation of Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Frontline, Splinter Cell VR and two other unannounced games. In addition, the release of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora has been delayed. In addition, Ubisoft plans to block online features and DLCs to some older games, something the company has already done with a a couple of its titles on Steam. This is definitely not a fruitful time for Ubisoft.

1. Roller Champions - official website
2. Roller Champions on Twitter