Something to look forward to: After reviving the long-running MechWarrior franchise, Piranha Games doesn't intend to let the series slip into dormancy again. The developer is working on another entry akin to its last release, MechWarrior 5. Be patient, though. The details are scant, and we likely won't see it for a while.
This week, Piranha Games president Russ Bullock revealed that another MechWarrior game is in the works. The new project will be more like the single-player MechWarrior 5 than the multiplayer-oriented MechWarrior Online.
Bullock confirmed the new title in an episode of the podcast No Guts No Galaxy. He said the game would be a standalone release for PC and consoles focusing on single-player and co-op modes. It will build off of the technological base of MechWarrior 5, though Bullock didn't clarify what that means.
Despite revealing the new game's development, Piranha won't formally announce it yet. Bullock suggested the company will unveil the title sometime this year, possibly in September or later in the fall.
The mech-combat simulation shooter series debuted as 1989 MechWarrior from Dynamix and Activision, a spin-off of the BattleTech tabletop franchise. The IP continued with other entries from Activision, Zipper Interactive, and Microsoft before entering a decade-long hiatus after 2002's MechWarrior4: Vengeance. Unfortunately, these titles aren't available on modern digital storefronts. Those interested in revisiting or investigating the game's history will have to download them from unofficial sources and use mods to run them on modern operating systems.
MechWarrior returned to Piranha Games with the online PvP-focused MechWarrior Online in 2013. In 2019 the company released MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries --- the first traditional entry in 17 years --- exclusively on the Epic Games Store before bringing it to Steam two years later.
Since then, MechWarrior 5 has received three expansion packs, with a fourth --- Rise of Rasalhague --- arriving on January 26. The expansion will coincide with a free update that improves the AI and the mech hangar while adding quality-of-life improvements. Rise of Rasalhague includes a 12-mission storyline, a new mech chassis, and the "infiltration" game mode.
The BattleTech franchise also includes the turn-based strategy games Crescent Hawk's Inception (1988) and Crescent Hawk's Revenge (1990). Hairbrained Schemes released a new turn-based entry simply titled BattleTech in 2018.