Fans of the MechWarrior and BattleTech universe have a new treat incoming as mentioned by Piranha Games president Ross Bullock.
Bullock appeared on the NoGutsNoGalaxy podcast and mentioned that there is a new MechWarrior game in development at the studio. It's a single-player/co-op game pretty much in line with MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries, albeit it's also not a DLC for it. It's going to be a stand-alone game.
It will be announced officially at some time in 2023 and the developed floated "September" or the "fall" as the possible timing for the reveal. It will come to "all the platforms," PC and consoles building on the technology base of the previous game.
Speaking of the possibility of a new MechWarrior Online, Bullock mentioned that there is the challenge that the license for the franchise is going to expire in 2025, which leaves time for the new single-player game and possibly some DLC for it, but a MechWarrior Online 2 would take a lot more time than that as a game-as-a-service. Pirahna would need an extension to at least 2030 to achieve that.
That being said, the license has been extended before and Piranha has a good relationship with Microsoft, so that's not impossible.
Bullock also mentioned that he doesn't see an end in sight for the current MechWarrior Online at least for the next two years. Despite the fact that its revenue levels have decreased considerably since its heyday in 2013 the game is still profitable. Support will continue and a devblog about it will be published this week. The game will receive at least a bit more resources in 2023 than it did in 2022.
If you're unfamiliar with the MechWarrior franchise, it's a series of video games which debuted in 1989, titled like the pen & paper RPG first published in 1986. They're part of the BattleTech universe originally created by FASA Corporation in 1984 and centered about well-known mecha-focused tabletop wargames and several series of novels. It was even portrayed in an animated series in 1994.
