2K Games has announced that it will shut down Evolve’s dedicated servers on September 3 2018.

In a statement on its website 2K Games said: “Evolve’s dedicated servers will be shutting down on September 3, 2018. This means several game features will no longer be available, such as Hunt (Ranked), leaderboards, and the in-game store. Stage 2 will no longer be available on PC, and players will have plenty of opportunity to spend their in-game and virtual currency before the store is removed. Peer-to-peer multiplayer will still be available in Legacy Evolve on PC and console, and we’d like to stress that all players will retain all purchased DLC content, such as Hunters, Monsters, and skins.”

The publisher added that: “If you purchased Evolve, you’ll be able to access Legacy Evolve after the dedicated servers are shut down. The free-to-play PC version, Evolve Stage 2, will not be available.” And it added, regarding paid-for game content: “Players will keep all purchased Monsters, Hunters, and skins after the server shutdown on September 3, 2018. Be sure to spend your in-game currency as the store closes along with the servers on September 3. All content can be accessed through Legacy Evolve, which is the original retail version of Evolve.”

Evolve originally launched in 2015, but despite being a rare example of an asymmetric multiplayer shooter, it never really captured the imaginations of gamers. 2K Games made it free-to-play in July 2016, but its player-base since plummeted and, after the closure of its dedicated servers in September, only those who purchased the original version of the game will be able to continue playing it.