Splash Damage is offering Battalion 1944 Kickstarter refunds after ‘falling short of promises’

Bulkhead and parent company Splash Damage have announced that all Kickstarter backers of Battalion 1944 are eligible for a “no questions asked” refund, regardless of platform, pledge tier, or time played in the game.

“When we launched the Battalion 1944 Kickstarter we set out to ‘recapture the core of classic multiplayer shooters’. That line connected us to our backers and who financially supported our vision to celebrate everything that was great about that era of shooters,” said Bulkhead CEO Joe Brammer.

“Ultimately, we couldn’t fully deliver on all that we set out to do, most of all the release of the console version. Without that initial Kickstarter support, Bulkhead wouldn’t exist today. We want to thank our backers for believing in the project as strongly and as passionately as we did – but as we were unable to accomplish all the goals we initially set, we have decided to fully refund all of our original Kickstarter backers.”

Bulkhead raised £317,000 for the multiplayer-only Unreal Engine 4 title through Kickstarter. It originally planned to release the game for Xbox One and PS4 after it received its full PC release in May 2019, but the console versions never materialised.

Splash Damage, which acquired fellow English studio Bulkhead in late 2022, said players who backed Battalion 1944 on Kickstarter were being emailed with details on how to claim their refunds.

“There have certainly been times when we fell short of our promises, and let our community down,” said Splash Damage CEO Richard Jolly. “Now, alongside Bulkhead we’re not just committed to learning from these experiences, but also demonstrating it through action, and we believe this is what best respects the support and loyalty that the Battalion community has shown us.”

Bulkhead, which is co-developing Transformers: Reactivate with Splash Damage, also provided an update on its own original IP.

“Now working with Splash Damage, the creators of Enemy Territory, has been a like a dream come true,” Brammer said. “They have been open in sharing with us a lot of their own learning, and understood some of the difficulties we were facing. They’re a community-driven studio, too, and have so much experience to offer us as we develop Wardogs. With their support, I believe it’ll be our best game ever.”