Dodgeball Game Knockout City Implements Permanent Free Trial

Velan Studios' Knockout City is a fast-paced competitive dodgeball game that's published by Electronic Arts and selling for $19.99 on PC and consoles. More than a few people have commented on it looking neat but seeming like a free-to-play title, and now it almost is.

The game had a free weekend that just concluded, but in the effort to keep the momentum -- and player count -- high, it's now got a permanent free trial that runs until level 25.

Block Party is over, but new players to Knockout City can still start brawlin' for free!
If your friends are just joining us, they'll be able to play for free and level up to Street Rank 25 before purchasing the game. That’s also enough game time to teach them to pass the ball. pic.twitter.com/aWjPjKS0ES

— Knockout City (@knockoutcity) May 30, 2021

Knockout City has been well-received -- 94% positive on Steam as of this writing -- so it's clearly popular, but its player count, while decent, wasn't quite on par with other competitive titles. That might be why EA and Velan decided to extend the free trial in perpetuity.

In the long run, it wouldn't be too surprising to see Knockout City become a full free-to-play title, since it already seems to have a thriving cosmetic cash shop. Given its early popularity, you can't blame the developers for at least giving it a try, and if things trend downward, they can still pull the F2P switch in the future.