Games Shutting Down In August 2025

One of the influences behind the Stop Killing Games movement is the concept that nothing remains constant forever. Although standalone games should ideally be playable indefinitely as long as they don’t require an internet connection, this isn’t always the case for multiplayer and online games. There’s always a chance that at some point, a publisher may decide to deactivate a game’s servers, especially for games that have been struggling for years.

Hey there fellow gamer! Just wanted to give you a heads up that come August 2025, some of our favorite games will be shutting down forever. So if you haven’t already, now’s your chance to hop into one last match before they disappear. Games like Nascar Heat 4 and 5, Block N Load, and EvilVEvil have already bid us farewell, but there are more on the list. Here’s a look at other major games that will be saying goodbye in August 2025.

In this write-up, we won’t discuss games scheduled for removal from the market, as that topic stands separately. Instead, our focus will be on games ceasing operations exclusively in North America.

The following projects were shut down on August 1, 2025:

Block N Load
EvilVEvil
Nascar Heat 4
Nascar Heat 5

Ironsight

August 6, 2025

Approximately six years later, it has been confirmed that “Ironsight” will be shutting down its servers. WipleGames made this announcement back in May 2025. Although it never reached massive popularity, it did garner a loyal fanbase who kept the servers active until early 2023. In terms of gameplay, “Ironsight” largely followed the format of early “Call of Duty”, particularly “Black Ops”. To be fair, this is a strong foundation to build upon, but going up against the biggest name in the online first-person shooter genre is a challenging endeavor for any developer.

As a dedicated fan, I’ve noticed that IronSight has been facing some challenges over an extended period. Regrettably, it hasn’t managed to attract more than 200 players daily on Steam since June 2024. Despite the solid foundations, the game faced hurdles with its netcode and new player onboarding process, which significantly hindered its ability to recover.

Kritika: Zero

August 7, 2025

In May 2025, the game Kritika: Zero was de-listed from distribution with plans to officially close down in August. Regrettably, it never had the chance to launch on Steam and instead spent its lifetime on VFUN. To be honest, the Kritika series is somewhat peculiar, and most of its Western releases (such as Kritika Reboot, Kritika Global, and Kritika Online) were closed down fairly promptly. Kritika: Zero was essentially an attempt to revive the franchise after VALOFE took ownership of it.

Regrettably, the MMO brawler, much like its predecessors in the series, experienced a strong start and remained popular for a year before gradually losing its momentum. While Kritika continues to exist in its mobile version, it appears that any potential PC projects associated with it may not last long.

Blacklight: Retribution

August 31, 2025

Among the games set to end in August 2025, Blacklight: Retribution has had an exceptionally long lifespan. Originally developed and released by Hardsuit Labs (formerly Zombie Studios) on PC in 2012, it later made its debut as a PlayStation 4 launch title the following year. Since then, Blacklight: Retribution has maintained a notable presence as a free-to-play first-person shooter, appearing regularly on PC marketplaces and the PlayStation store. Considering its timeframe, the game was quite popular, receiving regular updates for several years, although activity began to decrease in the latter half of the 2010s.

2019 saw the closure of PC servers for the game Blacklight: Retribution by Hardsuit, due to insufficient popularity to justify continued investment and resource allocation on this platform. In January 2025, the game was removed from the PlayStation Store and briefly taken offline. To be clear, Hardsuit did restore Blacklight to functioning status, but it was never re-listed. Subsequently, when it became known that the PS4 servers would cease operation on August 31, this announcement wasn’t entirely unexpected.

Splitgate

Shut Down Date TBC

In August 2025, the much-anticipated yet surprising closure of the game known as “Splitgate” is scheduled. While the exact day hasn’t been announced yet, it will happen sometime in that month. This decision was made due to the underwhelming launch of “Splitgate 2,” which received a mixed response, prompting 1047 Games to reconsider their approach. The sequel was released just a few years after the initial “Splitgate,” and it seemed to catch the original’s player base off guard when it was announced.

It was feared that the developer might be hurrying with Splitgate 2, and those concerns proved valid when the game was launched, as it was unpolished and seemed to downplay the significance of portals, which were the original game’s main selling point. As a result, 1047 Games decided to send Splitgate 2 back into its beta phase and permanently shut down the first game. The intention is for the developer to dedicate all their effort to making the sequel as excellent as possible.

2025-08-05 17:40