World War 3 Servers to Shut Down on August 3
The shutdown closes an eight-year run for a title that once drew over 10,000 concurrent players but never overcame its launch-era connection problems.
Reporting from 1 sources: Automaton.
Developer Wishlist Games announced that the competitive FPS World War 3 will end service on August 3 local time. The game entered early access in October 2018, suffered persistent technical issues, relaunched as free-to-play in 2022, and saw developer and publisher changes before player counts fell below 100.
World War 3, the multiplayer competitive FPS set in modern warfare, will shut down on August 3 local time, developer Wishlist Games announced June 3. The game entered early access in October 2018 as a paid title from Poland-based The Farm 51. Its concept of large-scale battles with vehicles and real-world cities like Berlin and Moscow initially attracted attention, and concurrent player counts briefly exceeded 10,000. But connection problems at launch drew heavy negative reviews, with many players reporting endless loading screens. Patches failed to fix the issues, and the game was pulled from sale in June 2020.
After a partnership with MY.GAMES, World War 3 returned as a free-to-play title in September 2022. It again peaked above 10,000 concurrent players on Steam, but connection problems recurred, and over 9,000 negative reviews appeared on re-release day. Updates added maps set in Shibuya and Istanbul, but the Steam rating never rose above Mixed. In December 2023, development and publishing shifted to Cyprus-based Wishlist Games. The new team added Easy Anti-Cheat and smaller beginner maps, but player counts regularly fell below 100. The shutdown announcement thanks supporters and calls the decision difficult. World War 3 is currently free on PC via Steam.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.