OnRush, the unique racing game (that wasn’t really racing) created by Codemasters Evo in 2018, will have its online services shut down on 30th November 2022.
The title has an interesting history after the Southam-based racing game developer purchased the former Sony studio after it had finished Driveclub.
From there, the same team went on to make DIRT 5, before Electronic Arts published the studio in 2021 for $1.2billion. In that process, the team was subsumed by Criterion Games to make the future of the Need for Speed franchise, including a hand in the upcoming Unbound.
Now the final remnants of its first post-Sony title are being switched off.
“Thanks to everyone who has supported our game – it’s been a RUSH. With player numbers in online modes dropping to low levels, we will be shutting down the servers from November 30, 2022,” reads the EA support website.
“For ONRUSH fans who want to continue playing, offline modes will continue to be available.”
The aim of OnRush was driving cars and motorcycles at high speed against rivals, taking them down with bodily contact and utilising boost until your RUSH tank was full – at which point you could deploy your RUSH, to speed forward in a neon blue nitrous storm that reminded us of the Star in Mario Kart.
It was available for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the publicly announced PC version never seeing the light of day.
The quirk was that you weren’t racing for position, but points and in teams. Online, Lockdown mode, for example, was an automotive equivalent of ‘capture the flag’ with a moving zone your team aimed to capture, the first to six wins.
According to Eurogamer around the time of release, the game sold fewer than 1,000 physical copies during its UK launch week, and the relatively underwhelming sales performance led to several team members losing their jobs.
However, a hardcore community still plays and enjoys the unique game, although now, clearly not enough to warrant its online features from continuing.
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