''Battalion 1944'' is a

multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

first-person shooter First-person shooter (FPS) is a sub-genre of shooter video games centered on gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action through the eyes of the protagonist and controlling the pl ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

developed by Bulkhead Interactive and published by

Square Enix Collective Square Enix Collective is an indie games awareness initiative and division of Square Enix Europe. Created by Phil Elliot in 2014, it is a self-titled "service provider for Indie developers", which helps get a developer's game published while the ...

and released for

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

. The game was announced via a

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

campaign in February 2016, and released on 23 May 2019. The game is set during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and runs on

Unreal Engine 4 Unreal Engine (UE) is a 3D computer graphics game engine developed by Epic Games, first showcased in the 1998 first-person shooter game ''Unreal''. Initially developed for PC first-person shooters, it has since been used in a variety of genre ...

. Bulkhead is a collaborative effort between companies Deco Digital and Bevel Studios. Versions for the

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

and

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...

were also announced but never released.

Development

The game's

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...

campaign was successfully funded in under three days. In the announcement, Bulkhead Interactive stated that the game would feature

dedicated servers A dedicated hosting service, dedicated server, or managed hosting service is a type of Internet hosting in which the client leases an entire server not shared with anyone else. This is more flexible than shared hosting, as organizations have f ...

while making use of certain

anti-cheat Cheating in online games is the subversion of the rules or mechanics of online video games to gain an unfair advantage over other players, generally with the use of third-party software. What constitutes cheating is dependent on the game in ...

measures. The game was released on

early access Early access, also known as alpha access, alpha founding, paid alpha, or game preview, is a funding model in the video game industry by which consumers can purchase and play a game in the various pre-release development cycles, such as pre-alph ...

on 1 February 2018, and officially released on 23 May 2019.

Controversy

The project ended up being very controversial after the developers failed to launch the promised console versions despite selling keys for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One digital copies during the Kickstarter campaign. The development focused fully on the PC version and thousands of console gamers were left out of pocket with no game and no communication from Bulkhead. The console version was officially cancelled on August 9, 2022, with the PC version going free to play.

References

External links

* 2019 video games Kickstarter-funded video games Multiplayer and single-player video games PlayStation 4 games Tactical shooter video games Unreal Engine games Video games developed in the United Kingdom Windows games World War II first-person shooters Xbox One games Square Enix games {{fps-videogame-stub