Avalanche Studios has officially confirmed plans to shut down the online servers of one of its classic free-to-play games. In the modern games industry, it’s becoming increasingly common to see the servers for older titles shut down completely, and unfortunately, Avalanche Studios is not an exception to the rule.
Avalanche Studios is perhaps best known as the developer of Just Cause, a series of high-octane action-adventure games that have been met with critical and commercial success over the years. However, it was also the developer of two games in the theHunter series, which simulate the hunting of wild animals in a realistic fashion. The studio moved into a publishing-only role for the most recent game in the series, theHunter: Call of the Wild, with Expansive Worlds taking over development.
theHunter: Classic is Shutting Its Servers on November 11, 2026
In a post on Steam, developer Avalanche Studios has revealed that TheHunter Classic is shutting down permanently on November 11, 2026. According to the studio, the decision was made after “the reality of our dwindling playerbase” made continuing support for the hunting game “no longer financially sustainable.” Prior to the shutdown, the traditional werewolf event will run in-game as usual from October 28 to November 11.
As part of the shutdown notice, Avalanche Studios published a Q&A, answering some of the questions fans may have as theHunter Classic closes its servers. The developer says that, because of how the game’s “core systems were built,” an offline option simply isn’t possible in the future. Purchases of all new in-game currency have already been stopped, although any existing currency can be spent until the November 11 shutdown date. Avalanche Studios also clarified that the shutdown does not impact any of the studio’s staff, avoiding the layoffs that are plaguing the games industry right now. With the game being completely inaccessible when the servers are closed, it has also reiterated that old disc copies will not work, either, imploring fans, “Please do not be fooled into paying a fortune for a disc that won’t work.”
While theHunter Classic may be shutting down for good on November 11, theHunter: Call of the Wild is alive and well, and continues to attract thousands of concurrent players on Steam, despite being released almost a decade ago. The reality is that there are so few good hunting games out there, and theHunter scratches the itch extremely well. The latest game in the series continues to get new content to this day, even releasing the new Peru Hunting Reserve DLC last month.
Guess the games from the emojis.
Guess the games from the emojis.
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As for Avalanche Studios, it appears its hunting days are behind it. Rumors suggest that the developer is working on an unannounced open-world title, although nothing concrete has been confirmed at this time. Given its history with the Just Cause franchise, it would not be a significant surprise, but it’s unclear whether the rumored title is the next iteration in the series, which has not had a new game since 2018’s Just Cause 4.
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March 5, 2009
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