Avalanche Studios Ends Online Support for Free-to-Play Game on Nov. 11
Avalanche Studios has formally announced that it will end online support for one of its older free-to-play titles. As the games industry continues to sunset live services for aging releases, this is another example of a studio pulling the plug on servers that players have been relying on for years.
For many players, Avalanche is best known for developing the Just Cause series, celebrated for its high-energy action-adventure gameplay and wide appeal across its run. The studio has also contributed to the theHunter franchise, where players hunt wild animals with an emphasis on realism. More recently, Avalanche shifted its involvement in the latest entry—theHunter: Call of the Wild—moving into a publishing role while Expansive Worlds took over development.
Across both theHunter releases, the core pitch has remained consistent: hunt animals in large, open environments with mechanics designed to pull you into the tension and rhythm of stalking real prey.
theHunter: Classic is shutting down on November 11, 2026
In a Steam update, Avalanche Studios confirmed that theHunter Classic will be taken offline permanently on November 11, 2026. The studio says the decision came from “the reality of our dwindling playerbase,” which it claims made it “no longer financially sustainable” to keep supporting the hunting game.
Before the shutdown date, the game’s in-world werewolf event is expected to proceed as normal. That event is scheduled to run from October 28 through November 11, giving players a final window to take part right up until servers close.
Alongside the shutdown announcement, Avalanche posted a Q&A addressing questions fans are likely to have as theHunter Classic prepares to end. The developer states that there will not be an offline mode after the servers go dark, pointing to how the game’s “core systems were built.” On the monetization side, Avalanche notes that no further purchases of new in-game currency will be available starting now, though players can still spend currency they already have until the November 11 shutdown.
Avalanche also emphasized that the closure will not affect its workforce, explicitly aiming to reassure players that no layoffs are tied to this decision—at a time when job cuts have been common across the industry. Finally, because the title will be fully inaccessible once the servers are disabled, the studio reiterated that older disc versions won’t work either. It urged players, “Please do not be fooled into paying a fortune for a disc that won’t work,” addressing concerns that collectors might still try to sell physical copies for inflated prices.
Even with theHunter Classic ending for good, theHunter: Call of the Wild remains active and continues to draw thousands of players at the same time on Steam, despite launching nearly a decade ago. The franchise’s survival in the modern market is largely credited to a simple lack of strong alternatives in the hunting genre, and theHunter continues to deliver what many players want. The game is still receiving updates, including a new Peru Hunting Reserve DLC released just last month.
Guess the games from the emojis.
Gamoji
Guess the game from the emojis.
As for Avalanche Studios itself, it looks like its hunting-era support may be winding down. Rumors have circulated that the company is working on an unannounced open-world project, though no details have been confirmed. Given Avalanche’s long-standing relationship with Just Cause, it’s plausible that any upcoming release could be another entry in that franchise. However, there’s still no clarity on whether the rumored project is actually the next Just Cause game, especially since the series hasn’t received a new main installment since Just Cause 4 in 2018.
