Bandai Namco Shuts Down Free-To-Play Fighting Game Rise of Incarnates

Bandai Namco has issued a notice of service termination for free-to-play fighting game, Rise of Incarnates. In-game currency is no longer available for purchase and the game will become unplayable from December 15, 2015, according to a statement from the publisher.

"We must regretfully inform all users of the closure of Rise of Incarnates," it said on the game's Steam page. "We offer our sincere thanks to everyone who has supported this game . We will be keeping the servers open until December 15, 2015, so please continue to enjoy Rise of Incarnates until the very end."

Rise of Incarnates was announced in August, 2014 and was heavily inspired by titles such as Gundam Extreme Vs. Instead of mechs, however, players selected from super-powered heroes and villains, before facing off against each other in two-versus-two brawls.

The title was designed by SoulCalibur, Tekken and Gundam Extreme veterans, giving the it a fighting game pedigree. Despite this, Rise of Incarnates failed to make a splash or develop a large audience.

Bandai Namco has made numerous efforts to move into the free-to-play genre. In addition to new properties such as Rise of Incarnates, classic gaming franchises such as SoulCalibur and Tekken have been rebuilt with the microtransaction business model in mind.

SoulCalibur: Lost Swords was launched in April 2014 for the PlayStation 3. Recently, Bandai Namco announced the game will shut down in November 2015.

While the company's free-to-play plans seem to be in flux, its upcoming slate of traditional console games includes Dark Souls 3, which is scheduled for release in early 2016, and Pokken Tournament.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, a game published by Bandai Namco in Europe, recently received its first major content expansion. In GameSpot's review, The Witcher 3: Hearts of Stone earned a 9/10 score.