No Tea left for Tea-Bagging: Offensive Combat Shuts Down

Michael Dunaway
By Michael Dunaway, News Editor Posted:
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When Dusty Welch said in 2011 that his goal was to “dethrone the established leaders” with his new studio U4iA, it was easy to believe the former Activision employee and CoD developers offensive mentality toward reemerging in the FPS industry. However, it seems that U4iA could not stand the test of time, and all of the fun and wacky promises of Offensive Combat have now been revoked.

Offensive Combat, which U4iA released its open beta 2.0 on August 23rd, 2013, was apparently too offensive to continue production, and it doesn't sound like there is hope for a Resurrection of this free to play browser based shooter any time soon.

The studio, shocked their fan base this week by announcing a final day of operation on January 15th, 2014, leaving a little over three years worth of game development to rest. Although the message to fans and subscribers is conveyed with guilt and condolences, some wonder how the decision to halt operations could have happened almost over night, or as ex-Activision employee Jeremy Dunham put it, in the “blink of an eye.”

While we can accept that sometimes these things just happen, the lack of information on U4iAs retirement does stir up some curiosity as to how such a prolonged project with consistent updates can be swept under the rug with barely a moments notice, as the story could possibly be a red flag for game developers and fans in the near future.

One can only be left to wish the just over two dozen employees who are now seeking employment elsewhere the best of luck finding it.

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About the Author

Michael Dunaway
Michael Dunaway, News Editor

Michael Dunaway has been part of the MMOBomb team for years and has covered practically every major Free-to-Play MMO title since 2009.

More Stories by Michael Dunaway

Discussion (14)

Duty14 10 years ago
I liked the original idea and tried to play the game... But the lag was too big for me to play.. Plus indeed it seamed unbalanced for players and it seemed a little greedy with monetization.. It was a bit of a little chaos for me as a new player+ lag= unplayable for me. The idea was good: free shooter, in browser, funny intentions :) I'm really sorry for the developers and for their work.. Wish them well and hope something similar will come in the future but with a better polished game and a better plan in time...

cacaballz 10 years ago
This makes me feel so good inside. Nothing on this planet feels better than being right. I played OB. It was a GREAT browser shooter and had some decent maps to keep the element of fun. Not too twitchy, not to strategic, a little mix of both, with a lil zerg the hall way elements. A very 3/5 shooter. Biggest problem. GREED. Cash shop was to dominate. Called out at OB that not enough good meat in the game to justify slapping cash on it. This title is easy enough to actually keep alive and running, but since they bet their chips on corporate contracts on fat returns...I hope they are all out of jobs now and go poor and work McDonalds and play F2P games to get a taste of their own medicine, and then come back and do it right.

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Anon 10 years ago
The game was a decent bit of fun for a little while, but it was heavily Pay2Win.
I know this because my wonderful paid guns had me sitting at around a 20:1 K/D ratio. S'only reason I played considering it cost me $10 or less to even get.

But I got my funs worth and quit the game ages ago, it got boring quick. Not much of a loss.

Curst 10 years ago
Curious. In Russia this game is still going and there are no news and/or indications of it closing any time soon. I wonder what will happen to it now that developers have officially discontinued their work.

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Randall moore 10 years ago
As a Ambassador xbox live and member of Enforcement United,I could'nt agree more,tea bagging is a offensive gesture and should be reported.

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removalmitt 10 years ago
guess I wasn't looking so hard as I like to try new games but I've honestly never even heard of this at all

Razer 10 years ago
The thing that was really offensive about this game was the vertical character upgrades. That's a cardinal sin in the world of online shooters.

Merkadis 10 years ago
The smaller the dog the louder it barks.

Jo 10 years ago
Best of luck to them.


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