Gigantic is—or was—a free-to-play “strategic hero shooter” that went into full launch in July 2017 and nearly instantly fell into misfortune. In November 2017, developer Motiga was closed, and only a couple months later writer Excellent World introduced that the sport would undergo the identical destiny in July 2018. However now, improbably and unexpectedly, it appears prefer it could be making a comeback: Gearbox has confirmed that invites to a “restricted time throwback occasion” are legit.
The occasion first got here to gentle within the Gigantic subreddit, after quite a few diehard followers shared an e mail that went out immediately inviting them to a three-day Gigantic play session, set to run October 5 to October 7. “Relive the great previous days of taking part in this beloved strategic hero shooter” the e-mail exclaimed.
Calling Gigantic “beloved” could be a little bit of a stretch—its peak concurrent participant rely on Steam was 8,303, in response to Steam Charts, however six months later that quantity was right down to round 200—however the invite appears legit, and it is bought the fanbase in a tizzy. It seems that Gigantic gamers are rather a lot like followers of Alexander Keith’s, the well-known (round right here, anyway) Canadian beer: Those that prefer it, prefer it rather a lot.
“Everybody who bought this e mail, play, pay, do all the things you may to indicate assist!” redditor rey1119 wrote. “We will revive Gigantic if there’s sufficient curiosity!”
“I am so excited!” Falconpunchu stated. “I did not get to play when this recreation was launched trigger my PC was very dangerous, however now I can lastly attempt it!”
“WE BACK BOIS,” Redditor pvrris23 contributed, chopping proper to the hoped-for level.
And it is true: Gigantic is again—kind of. “The Gigantic Throwback Occasion is a limited-time journey again to the world of the long-lasting strategic hero shooter,” Gearbox stated in an announcement offered to PC Gamer. “Gigantic followers have been invited to expertise the occasion from Thursday, October 5 at 12 pm PT to Friday, October 6 at 9 pm PT. We recognize our followers and hope they get pleasure from this one-time solely, throwback occasion.”
Gearbox is concerned in all of this as a result of in 2021, Embracer Group acquired Gigantic writer Excellent World Leisure from its Chinese language mother or father firm, shortly after which it renamed the corporate to Gearbox Publishing, beneath the management of its Gearbox Leisure division. Gigantic wasn’t lively at that time, however it was owned by Excellent World, and thus went together with the sale. That sparked a name again in April for an e mail marketing campaign asking Gearbox to carry the sport again, and whereas there is no indication that the marketing campaign had any direct affect on the return of Gigantic (aside from, you already know, the return of Gigantic), no less than one Redditor gave credit score the place they believed it was due.
Gearbox declined to touch upon whether or not the “throwback occasion” alerts a full-scale return of Gigantic, however in response to some redditors, it appears like that is a part of a course of that is constructing as much as one thing: Just a few stated {that a} closed Gigantic playtest was held by means of the Arc Video games launcher, which was used for the unique launch, final week.
Sadly for Gigantic followers who did not obtain the e-mail, it would not look you’ll get in with out it: Gigantic is not at the moment listed on the Arc launcher (I checked) and whereas some redditors who did obtain the invite are sharing the hyperlink, you may additionally want an “Arc Defender PIN,” that are apparently distinctive to particular person emails.