I recently had the opportunity to speak with Alex Shimov, the Development Director of MY.GAMES’ HAWKED, about the challenges and successes of developing and launching a live service hero-based extraction shooter game.
HAWKED officially launched on February 15th on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox consoles, but the road to launch wasn’t without its difficulties. Alex explained that the “Early Access period in December was incredibly helpful” in addressing technical issues such as crashes, bugs, and performance. The team also relied heavily on feedback from the active and growing community during development, which allowed them to identify areas for improvement and make necessary changes. Alex noted that “the team always made it a priority to listen to feedback and communicate directly with players through sessions.”
Creating HAWKED was a new experience for MY.GAMES as the extraction-based shooter genre was new territory for the globally distributed development studio. The team faced challenges from the beginning of the development process, but they were determined to create an adventurous treasure-hunting game that incorporated elements such as competition, reward, treasures, and player progression. The team spent a significant amount of time iterating on the PvP aspect “to ensure that it would be engaging and interesting for players.”
Despite the challenges, HAWKED offers deep customization options that set it apart from other games in the genre. Players can mix and match a variety of active (gears) and passive (artifacts) abilities to create their own playstyle. These can be used to define different PvP roles, such as support, tank, and sniper, and players can collect gears and artifacts throughout the game to create unique experiences.
HAWKED has already registered 1.5 million players, and the team plans to release quarterly updates. The future update will include a recommendation system to help players get used to the system and make it easier for them to navigate.
HAWKED is available for free on PC via the MY.GAMES Launcher and Steam, as well as on the PlayStation Store and Xbox Store.
