When Infinite Games Publishing, one half of the MechWarrior Online team, went defunct, it could have meant the end of the game. Instead, Piranha Games regrouped, took control of the game and license, and started building features the community had been politely requesting.

Since it has become the sole custodian of the free-to-play game, Piranha has implemented a persistent galactic war called Community Warfare. Players choose a faction and invade or defend planets to increase their faction's influence.

Community Warfare is just one of the major elements that Piranha has been implementing since taking over in full. "Having a publisher can sometimes be a compromise of certain things that need to be done for a game vs. things we know the fans are waiting for," said Russ Bullock, president of Piranha Games. It sadly didn't work out for IGP in the long run, but I think the split really allowed everyone at Piranha to go head-down and start rolling out features that were being held up for whatever reason. We're definitely happy with where the game is at today and what we've accomplished over the last 10 or so months, we think the fans are happy too."

The second phase of Community Warfare is now complete, integrating a host of new features. Chief among them is the improved Mech Bay, a garage for all of your giant, lumbering, fully-armed war machines. This improves the customization features and makes it much easier to tune your mech to your playstyle.

Piranha Games is now working on a third phase of the Community Warfare program. "As we move forward into the next phase of community warfare we plan to support the incredible live aspect of watching MechWarrior matches with more tournament supports and events for fans," Bullock tells us.

You can check out MechWarrior Online on the official website, where you can register for an account to play.