Battalion developer Bulkhead says Square Enix partnership has "formally ended"
Long-awaited console versions cancelled, backers to be refunded.
Bulkhead, the Derby-based developer of old-school WW2 shooter Battalion 1944, has announced a "formal end" to its relationship with Square Enix.
The Final Fantasy publisher purchased a 20 percent stake of Bulkhead back in 2018, and announced plans for a fresh project at the studio.
Today also brings a long-awaited update on Battalion itself, which will get an "overhauled, final update" and name change to Battalion: Legacy on 16th August, when it will also be made available for free via Steam.
The game's missing-in-action console port has also finally been put out of its misery, nearly six years after it was initially crowdfunded via Kickstarter.
Back in 2018, fans were given reassurances by Battalion that the console versions were still on the way, after many began asking for refunds.
At the time, Bulkhead boss Joe Brammer told Eurogamer that the studio let its "enthusiasm for Battalion 1944 get the better of us and set ourselves unachievable deadlines", and had "no intention of offering refunds as our current intention is to deliver what we offered on Kickstarter, albeit late".
In a statement today, Bulkhead said it will now refund all console backers of the Kickstarter campaign.
"We are deeply disappointed that Battalion 1944 never made it to console and we will be refunding all console Kickstarter backers," Bulkhead wrote. "Thank you to everyone that backed the console version and we're sorry it has taken so long to rectify this." https://twitter.com/PlayBattalion/status/1557013505819250689So, what next? Well, Bulkhead has said its next chapter will again focus on the first-person shooter genre.
"We will be pursuing our goal of designing and releasing 'AAA' quality first person shooters across multiple platforms for the players," the studio said in an additional statement passed to Eurogamer.
"With this in mind, Bulkhead has multiple announcements coming this year featuring new projects alongside other exciting news."
As for Square Enix, the publisher previously announced the eye-opening sale of its Tomb Raider and Deus Ex studios, Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal, as it refocused on its Japanese operation.