Last year at MechCon 2018 we learned that MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries had a new release date for September 10, 2019, and we had the opportunity to get hands-on with the first single-player (and co-op!) MechWarrior title in 17 years. As we learned this week however, MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries just got another delay and is instead coming December 10, 2019.
The bigger news however is that Mercenaries is moving to the Epic Games Store exclusively for its PC release. This marks yet another blow to Steam where a major title and/or established IP is making the move over to the more developer-revenue-friendly platform, further emphasizing that Steam is continually losing ground as the previous hot spot for PC games.
MechWarrior Online still currently exists in its own launcher and on Steam where it will continue to live but developer Piranha Games is doing what so many others have done over the last year or two and is making the jump to the home of Fortnite, where publishers and devs are finding more success in sales and revenue from Epic than from Valve's established platform. Of course, the MW Reddit threads are exploding with a vocal minority who are upset about the platform change or reality of the business side of it. For that group, here's a story about World War Z's success thanks to the platform, and here's one for Metro Exodus.
MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries release date is now December 10, 2019 on Epic Games Store
MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries will have a closed beta in November for players who preorder. Anyone who preordered already through Steam can claim refunds by September 1st. Additionally, fans who do claim refunds will be able to keep all bonus MechWarrior Online content from the Standard, Collector and Ultimate Editions of the preorder, which amount to $100, $180, and $300 dollars worth of in-game currency and content for MechWarrior Online including all bonus items like XP, premium time, badges, decals, cockpit items and more, depending on which preorder tier they purchased. They will however, lose access to the closed beta and of course, any DLC for MechWarrior 5.
Executive producer Russ Bullock:
“Our partnership with the Epic Games store allows Piranha the opportunity to make sure MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries meets our internal goal of creating the best MechWarrior game possible. Since we announced the development of the first single-player MechWarrior game in 17 years, we have stated that our goal was to deliver to fans a MechWarrior: Mercenaries experience with true freedom of choice and to be able to share that experience in a coop setting."
Piranha Games held a Town Hall session yesterday for fans located in North America, and has a second Town Hall today scheduled for 10 a.m. PT for fans located in Europe. This event takes place on the community preorder Discord. The team states that "fans are encouraged to join the conversation and voice their thoughts."
MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries is modeled after the gameplay style from MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries, granting players the freedom to run their campaigns how they choose. In MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries, pilots will build, manage, and guide their own mercenary unit through a multi-year campaign during the sprawling Third and Fourth Succession Wars enjoying by far the greatest amount of player freedom and choice compared to past titles.
Whether braving missions alone, alongside AI-controlled pilots, or with the help of up to three friends via co-op play, pilots will face complicated situations with no perfect solution as they choose which contracts to accept, where in the Inner Sphere to direct their attention, and how to balance repairs or upgrades with maintaining their unit’s precious resources.
Stay tuned for more news. We still don't know yet if a Mech_Con event is planned for 2019 but we'd expect one to be timed with the release of the game.
Source: Piranha Games