THQ Shutting Down Company Of Heroes Online

The game isn't even out yet, and it's getting axed. THQ-owned developer Relic Entertainment put up the word on its official site this morning: The plug is being pulled on Company of Heroes Online before it even releases. Both the North American and Asian versions of the game are getting the axe.

"After an exciting period of operating and testing, we will be closing Open Beta on March 31, 2011 to evaluate the next steps for the Company of Heroes series," reads the official statement. Translation: This project is dead, and we have nothing to announce for Company of Heroes at this time.

The official FAQ found here has what few further public details exist on this sad news.

COHO being canceled is a bummer. Relic has been a consistently excellent studio for years, but this particularly bites for beta players who have already invested in the game's microtransaction model after Relic said that all purchases and money would be carried over into the live game. They won't be seeing any more use out of that cash after the beta shuts down on March 31.

I'm torn between thinking that there's not a real market for free-to-play competitive real-time strategy and deciding that there's not a real market for non-Blizzard RTS in any form these days.

Godspeed, Company of Heroes. You've given us lots of good times over the years. Our condolences for those developers at Relic who just had the axe come down over years of hard work.