Earlier this year, EA and Velan Studios pulled the curtain back on Knockout City, an over-the-top multiplayer game that plays like a futuristic spin on the classic schoolyard game dodgeball. Knockout City has proven to be quite a hit so far, with plenty of positive reviews and praise from the community since its release. Many playing Knockout City had been doing so for free due to the ongoing Block Party promotion, and while that's over, it's still possible to try the game without paying a dime.
Originally, the plan was for Knockout City's free trial to end on March 30 as the game launched its Season 1. However, the Knockout City free trial has been tweaked so now players can play for free until they hit Street Rank 25. This should ensure that anyone interested in Knockout City can get a good idea as to whether or not it's a game for them, and then if they want to keep playing, they can pay to do so.
While those on most platforms will have to buy Knockout City if they want to keep playing past rank 25, those on Xbox won't necessarily have to do so. Knockout City is available on Xbox Game Pass, and since EA Play is also available through Game Pass, it's safe to say that Knockout City will be available on the service for the foreseeable future. It's possible that it will one day leave the vanilla version of Game Pass, but even then it should still be available to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers for as long as it and EA Play are a package deal.
Knockout City being playable for free may very well be a huge contribution to its success so far. Online-only multiplayer games to tend to thrive in these kinds of environments, as it allows the maximum number of players to play the game for themselves. Combine that with Knockout City's crossplay capabilities and the fact that it's available on all the big modern gaming platforms, and it's clear that EA is doing everything it can to make sure the game's community is as active as possible.
As previously mentioned, Knockout City reviews have been mostly positive, and while there's always room for improvement, it seems as though the general consensus is that it is a solid game. Whether or not it will have the legs of some of the other live service games out there remains to be seen, but it will be interesting to see how it evolves in the months ahead.
Knockout City is out now for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
