You've probably seen the ads, the cool cinematic trailers with a Sith-lite warrior and a Mandalorian jetting around, and maybe you even pre-registered three years ago. But if you’re looking for the Star Wars Hunters release date now, the answer is a lot more complicated than a single calendar day.
Honestly, it’s a bit of a tragedy.
The short version? The game officially launched on June 4, 2024. It hit the Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android after what felt like an eternity of delays. But if you’re just now trying to jump into the Arena on Vespaara, I’ve got some bad news: the game is gone.
The Long, Messy Road to Vespaara
When Zynga first teased Star Wars: Hunters during a Nintendo Direct back in early 2021, the hype was real. A 4v4 arena shooter set after the fall of the Empire? Sign us up. They originally promised a 2021 release.
Then 2021 became 2022.
Then 2022 became 2023.
Finally, after a quiet "soft launch" in places like Australia and India that lasted way too long, the global Star Wars Hunters release date was set for mid-2024.
The game itself was actually pretty fun. It had this "Overwatch meets Star Wars" vibe but with a gritty, Outer Rim aesthetic. You had characters like Rieve, who used a red lightsaber but wasn't technically a Sith, and Utooni, which was literally just two Jawas standing on each other’s shoulders under a trench coat. It was weird, creative, and felt like a fresh corner of the galaxy.
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Why did it take so long?
Zynga (and their parent company Take-Two) kept citing "quality" as the reason for the constant pushbacks. They were basically trying to polish a mobile-first game into something that wouldn't get laughed off the Nintendo Switch eShop. Behind the scenes, reports of layoffs at the developer NaturalMotion started surfacing shortly after launch.
The market had also moved on. By the time Hunters actually showed up, the "hero shooter" craze had cooled down, and heavy hitters like Marvel Rivals were already sucking the oxygen out of the room.
The Shutdown: A Timeline of the End
It’s rare to see a game from a massive franchise like Star Wars launch and then vanish this quickly. Usually, these things linger on life support for years. Not this one.
Here is how the end went down:
- June 4, 2024: The global launch finally happens.
- January 27, 2025: A brief "Early Access" version for PC (Windows) was supposed to launch, but Zynga pulled the plug on the full PC port before it could even get out of the gate.
- March 14, 2025: The "Death Star" moment. Zynga officially announced they were shutting down the servers.
- April 15, 2025: In-app purchases were disabled. They released one last character—a support hunter named Tuya—for free as a "thank you" to the remaining players.
- October 1, 2025: The servers went dark.
If you try to download it today, you’ll likely find broken links or "app not available" messages. If you still have it installed on your Switch or phone, it’ll just hang on a connection error screen. It’s effectively a digital paperweight now.
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What Most People Get Wrong About the Failure
A lot of people think Hunters failed because it was a "bad" game. That’s not really true. If you check old Reddit threads or Discord archives, the community actually loved the gameplay. The problem was the monetization and the timing.
The game earned a reported $2.9 million in its first several months. For a normal indie dev, that’s a jackpot. For a licensed Star Wars property owned by Take-Two? That’s a rounding error. It didn’t even crack the top 1000 earners of 2024.
They also struggled to convert free-to-play users into spenders. There were no ads, and the "Arena Pass" didn't have enough "must-have" items to keep the lights on. By the time they realized they needed a PC version to find a more hardcore audience, the budget was gone.
The "Concord" Effect
Some fans compare it to Concord, the PlayStation shooter that famously died in two weeks. Hunters lasted longer—about 16 months of global service—but it suffered from the same "too little, too late" syndrome. When a game stays in development for four years only to launch into a saturated market, the hill is just too steep to climb.
Can You Still Play Star Wars Hunters?
Strictly speaking? No.
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Because it was an "always-online" game, there is no offline mode. You can't play against bots. You can't even look at your character skins. When those servers in San Mateo were turned off on October 1st, 2025, the game essentially ceased to exist.
There is a small community of "preservationists" trying to see if they can mimic the server architecture to make the game playable via private servers, but given the niche size of the player base, don't hold your breath.
What to Play Instead in 2026
If you're still craving that Star Wars competitive itch, the landscape has shifted.
- Star Wars: Galactic Racer: This is the big one for 2026. It's leaning into the podracing/combat racing vibe.
- Star Wars: Outlaws: If you haven't played the DLCs yet, they've added some arena-style combat challenges that scratch a similar itch to the combat in Hunters.
- Fate of the Old Republic: Still in development, but it's looking like the next major multiplayer focus for Lucasfilm Games.
It’s a bummer, basically. Star Wars: Hunters had a lot of heart and some of the coolest character designs we’ve seen in years (looking at you, Grozz the Wookiee). But the Star Wars Hunters release date will ultimately be remembered more as a "too late" date than a grand opening.
If you’re looking for your next Star Wars fix, keep an eye on the upcoming Galactic Racer previews. It’s supposed to be the "big" multiplayer focus for the current fiscal year. For now, let the past die. Kill it if you have to.
Your Next Steps:
- Check your mobile app store or Switch library and uninstall the Star Wars Hunters app to reclaim several gigabytes of space, as it will never be playable again.
- Look into the Star Wars: Galactic Racer pre-registration if you want to get in on the next big multiplayer launch early.
- Follow the NaturalMotion social accounts for updates on their future projects, though they have pivoted away from the Arena Shooter genre entirely.