Mediatonic announced today that Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout is going free-to-play in June. Fall Guys will also make its long-awaited debut on new platforms, including Nintendo Switch, Xbox, and the Epic Games Store.
All versions of the game, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X will support cross-play and cross-progression, using Mediatonic-owner Epic Games’ online services. Fall guys was originally supposed to hit Switch and Xbox in the summer of 2021, but those versions were delayed so the developer could add cross-play features.
Fall Guys’ transition to a free-to-play model will coincide with a new season, called Free For All. The season will feature new challenges and rewards, new events and locations, “major updates to the game’s progression systems,” and a new in-game currency: Show-Bucks. Players can use this currency to purchase the game’s season pass, but there will also be a free progression track.
Existing players – the beans who paid for Fall Guys – will get free cosmetics in a Legacy Pack bundle and the Free For All season pass for investing early in Fall Guys. Originally, Fall Guys was a big deal, especially in the early days of the pandemic, until Among Us came along and took a lot of the hype out of the game.
The developers might be hoping for a sort of rebirth for Fall Guys now that the talk surrounding the two games has died down. Back in March of last year, Fortnite developer Epic Games bought Tonic Games Group, after their game had attracted millions of players within a month of its release.
The game has been seeing a steady decrease in terms of player count on Steam with a -25.38% loss in February of this year, then a -20.41% loss last month. It remains to be seen if this new announcement will conjure up some new players again, or if it will just lead to another fall. Fall Guys‘ free-to-play launch, and new console versions of the game, will arrive on June 21.
