Company of Heroes Online Open Beta Closing

The Company of Heroes Online open beta will end on March 31 "after an exciting period of operating and testing," says Relic Entertainment. A recent post on the official Company of Heroes forums states that the developer will be closing down the free-to-play World War II-based real-time strategy game "to evaluate the next steps for the Company of Heroes series." An FAQ section on the site explains that Relic is "not ready to discuss details yet" regarding the future of the title. Any players who have purchased "COHO Cash," the in-game currency, have the option to spend it before the beta ends, or receive a refund after March 1. The currency is now no longer available to buy. Relic is also offering discounted copies of the Company of Heroes Gold Edition to anyone who participated in the beta program before February 1, at $4.99 from the THQ online store. The future of the free-to-play real-time strategy title remains uncertain. Relic states on the official site: "We are still working on our plans for the Company of Heroes franchise and are not ready to discuss details yet. We will be leveraging all the data and feedback the Company of Heroes Online Beta generated." The developer recently announced an upcoming patch for the retail version of Company of Heroes, addressing multiplayer balance and other issues with the highly-rated real-time strategy game, which originally released on PC in 2006. When Gamasutra talked to Company of Heroes Online producer Greg Wilson back in November, he told us "I hope [free-to-play] persists, I hope it grows, and I hope the community of developers manages expectations properly by not making their games unfair, and not making the cash-grab for selling super-powerful items."