Publisher and developer Wargaming today announced its decision to shut down the servers of Steel Hunters, its latest free-to-play PvPvE mech shooter, only six months after the game’s Steam Early Access debut.
Having launched on April 2, 2025, the Steel Hunters servers will officially shut down “around October 8,” giving anyone interested three more months to take control of its imposing mechs and sample its futuristic battles against both other players and AI-controlled opponents.
Steel Hunters Servers Shut Down October 2025
“Today we share difficult news: we’ve made the decision to sunset Steel Hunters,” the publisher wrote in a Steam post. “You’ve given us so much passion and support but unfortunately we’ve come to the conclusion that continuing development is not sustainable. We know this isn’t the news anyone wanted to hear and we genuinely share in your disappointment.”
Custom game support will be deployed inn the months that remain until Steel Hunters’ servers shut down. Furthermore, all Hunters will be unlocked for all players, “including Hunters nobody has seen yet.”
A final tournament will also be organized. Details about it will be shared in the game’s official Discord server.
Although its mech designs did stand out in promotional materials, Steel Hunters seemingly bumped into an all too familiar obstacle for online games – convincing enough players to stick around.
On Steam, it peaked at 4,479 concurrent users when it launched on April 2, but interest steadily declined to the point where, in the past month, it struggled to break past 200 concurrent users.
While the title was also available through Wargaming’s own client, the players there couldn’t make up for the difference needed to avoid Steel Hunters’ servers shutting down in October.
A lack of content, lackluster progression, alongside stability and performance issues are often brought up as negative points in Steam reviews, although a part of the playerbase did think Wargaming’s latest effort had potential to turn into a great game, given enough development time.
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