Today, December 29, 2025, Eighth Era flips the switch and enters a completely free-to-play Standby Mode for Battle Pass Season 3: Off the Books. This is the moment the chronicle resets as one era concluding so a stronger, more ambitious one can unfold.

This is our “Please Stand By” moment: your chance to dive into the full game, finish collections, and celebrate everything this community built before we unleash a brand-new, modernized Eighth Era in H2 2026.

A week after Battle Pass Season 3 wraps on March 29, 2026, Eighth Era 1.0 will power down. After that date, the game will no longer be playable or downloadable as we begin the rebuild in full.

We know how much this version has meant to you. You’ve battled, collected, traded, sniped coin auctions, and formed friendships along the way—and that legacy matters.

This isn’t goodbye
This is the countdown before liftoff

Standby Mode is our way of giving Eighth Era 1.0 the send-off it deserves while we focus entirely on the evolution coming next: Eighth Era 2.0.

Keep reading for the full timeline, what’s changing in-game, and what carries forward. A TL;DR and FAQ are waiting at the bottom.

Development Timeline

T.L.D.R.

• December 29, 2025: Standby Mode begins
• December 30, 2025: Kick off of the 3rd and final, totally free Premium Battle Pass Season for Eighth Era 1.0.
• March 29, 2026: Eighth Era 1.0 servers go dark.
• H2 2026: Eighth Era returns with familiar faces, new collectibles, and a richer gameplay loop.

‍

Monetization turns off

All in-app purchases will be disabled December 29th, 2025, which means the game effectively becomes free-to-play for everyone through March 29, 2026.

During this time, the full game will still be available to play, including hero events, coin tournaments, Scout Missions, and Battle Pass Season 3.

Battle Pass Season 3: Off the Books launches December 30th, 2025

This is the 3rd and final Battle Pass Season for Eighth Era 1.0. It’s filled with the same rewards as any other Battle Pass, but the premium track is totally free. Off the Books includes:

• Three brand new legendary heroes to unlock:
  • Brunix
  • Young-Min
  • Lynk
• Three new hero coin sets in the standard varieties: colorized (1/350), silvered (1/50), and gold-gilted (1/5).
• A Battle Pass Season 3: Off the Books coin

This free-to-play period is a celebration of Eighth Era 1.0. It’s a victory lap where you, the players, can enjoy the game’s content, complete your collections, and use any remaining resources before the servers go dark.

Players will also see clear in-game messaging beginning on December 29 so everyone understands the roadmap and what to expect.

“Making the game completely free for the last three months is our way of opening the doors wide for all. We want every player to have the chance to make a real run at the final set of coins before the 1.0 era ends. These collectibles matter, and this is the moment to fight for your spot as we head into the next era.”
Jonathan Strand, Executive Director

March 29, 2026: Eighth Era 1.0 Servers Go Dark

Eighth Era 1.0 will shut down completely so we can begin a total evolution of the game. After this date, Eighth Era 1.0 will no longer be playable or available to download.

We know this is a big shift. Eighth Era 1.0 has meant a lot to you, the players. We’ve been so honored to have a community of gamers and collectors so thoroughly enjoy the game we built.

When shutdown day arrives, we’ll mark it across our community channels and in-game. Eighth Era deserves a proper send off and a sincere thank you to our players.

Once we celebrate the past, we’ll look towards the future. Because, most importantly:

This is not the end of Eighth Era.

“The servers going offline is not the end. It’s the beginning of the next era.”
Jonathan Strand, Executive Director

What You Collected in the Last Era Shapes the Next

Eighth Era has never been just a digital game. The real-world coins you’ve earned, traded, hunted, and safeguarded are the backbone of the universe we’re building.

And in the future world of Eighth Era, they’re about to matter more than ever.

These original coins are becoming the rarest artifacts in the entire ecosystem. Once the Standby period ends, no more of these Season 1–2 coins will ever be minted again. They are finite. They are historical. And in the next version of the game, they become high-impact upgrades to your progression, power, and identity.

Your coins will:

• Carry forward into the new game
• Unlock meaningful bonuses and in-game advantages
• Enhance your team and your journey
• Become some of the rarest legacy collectibles the game will ever see

Your physical collection will become a true gameplay layer in the new game.

“Going forward in world of Eighth Era, our coins aren’t side collectibles or swag—they’re the foundation of the entire experience. The future of this game has to be a full loop, not a one-way street. Your real-world coins and collectibles should influence your digital journey, and your in-game achievements should flow back into the physical world just as meaningfully. That’s the core we’re building toward… and the coins already minted and in your hands will most likely be the rarest artifacts leading into the new game”
Jonathan Strand, Executive Director

What Doesn’t Carry Over (and Why)

This is a true relaunch, so gameplay progress and data won’t transfer into Eighth Era 2.0. That includes campaign progress, player levels, heroes, and inventory.

We don’t take this lightly. The magnitude of this evolution makes anything but a complete fresh start untenable. This approach also allows us to create a fair, balanced launch to the new game while still honoring what coins you collected and earned.

Why We’re Making This Change

Eighth Era has always been about evolution. The game we want to build next—the one we see, the one we’ve been sketching, planning, and dreaming about—can’t be reached through small patches or incremental updates. To create the experience you should have, we have to grow beyond the limits of 1.0 and rebuild the game from the ground up.

By making the final stretch free-to-play, we’re giving every player the chance to finish their collections, chase the last wave of 1.0 coins, and send this era off with momentum—not uncertainty. Instead of winding down, these next three months are a celebration: an open invitation to jump in, play hard, and prepare for what comes next.

Transparency matters to us.
Respecting your time matters to us.
And keeping you informed every step of the way matters to us.

As we move toward 2.0, we’ll continue sharing updates, art, plans, and progress so you know exactly where we’re headed, and why this evolution is worth it.

“We’re not interested in small changes or half-steps. If we’re going to rebuild Eighth Era, we’re going all in. The intersection of digital gameplay and real-world collectibles has always been at the heart of this universe, but in 1.0 it wasn’t integrated as tightly or as meaningfully as we want it to be. Collectibles can’t just be rewards—they need to feed back into the game and create a full loop of progression, identity, and strategy. In 2.0, that becomes one of our core pillars. We’re rebuilding the entire system so your physical collection truly matters in the world we’re creating next.”
Jonathan Strand, Executive Director

Eighth Era Returns as a New Game in the Second Half of 2026

H2 2026 is where everything changes.

Eighth Era isn’t just coming back, it’s being reborn as a brand-new game, launching as its own completely new app on iOS and Android. This is Eighth Era 2.0, rebuilt from the ground up with the future in mind.

Here’s what’s waiting on the other side of Standby Mode:

• A completely new world and storyline that dives deeper into the Eighth Era Universe than we’ve ever gone before with new locations, new lore, new mysteries.
• A total overhaul of the art and creative direction, elevating every hero, UI element, and environment into a modern, premium aesthetic that defines the next era of the brand.
• A rebuilt backend and technical foundation, designed to fully merge physical collectibles with digital gameplay, while delivering greater stability, faster updates, and brand-new features unique to Eighth Era’s hybrid universe.
• Massive updates to battle mechanics and core gameplay, creating more depth, strategy, and energy for both competitive and casual players.
• New heroes and returning heroes, reimagined and reintroduced with evolved kits, visuals, and lore that connect directly to the new universe we’re building.

Eighth Era 2.0 isn’t a sequel.
It’s a true evolution of everything this game stands for, bigger, sharper, deeper, and built for the long haul.

“We’re extremely proud of what Eighth Era 1.0 delivered, but what excited us most was watching players show us where the game truly resonated. That clarity changed everything. Rebuilding Eighth Era gives us the freedom to go all in on what matters: reimagining the universe through a completely new story with deeper and richer world building, more strategic and rewarding combat, bigger badder boss battles, and a PvP experience designed to be deeper and more competitive from day one. Just as importantly, earning real-world coins through tournaments remains a core part of the experience. However, now those collectibles feed directly back into your progression in powerful, meaningful ways. This reboot wasn’t a decision we made lightly; it’s a commitment to doing this world and the players who love it justice. What we’re building now is more focused, more ambitious, and far closer to the experience we’ve always wanted players to have. We can’t wait for players to return and experience Eighth Era through a bold, entirely new lens.”
Paul Waite, Design Director

"When we started building v2, we asked ourselves a simple question: what if our characters could look exactly like the concept art? In 3D on mobile, you're always fighting polygon counts, texture budgets, lighting limitations. The art gets compromised before it even reaches the player's screen. With 2.5D, those constraints disappear. Every brushstroke, every detail, every shadow we paint is what you'll see in the game. No translation loss. And with that freedom comes the chance to push the whole world into darker, more adult territory. The characters are growing up, and so is the world around them. Grittier, more defined, more layered. The Eight Eras will be far more distinct now, each with its own visual identity: cyberpunk cities, dark fantasy realms, retro future landscapes, and five more we can't wait to reveal. This is the game we always wanted to make."
Emanuele Pavarotti, Art Director

Thank You So Much

To everyone who played, competed, collected, sniped, and joined the community around Eighth Era 1.0, thank you.

Standby Mode is a celebration of what we’ve made together, and a bridge to what comes next. We can’t wait to show you where Eighth Era goes from here.

See you in Battle Pass Season 3: Off the Books on December 30th.

And we’ll see you again in Eighth Era 2.0.

“Thank you for being part of Eighth Era’s evolution. Your support fuels everything we’re creating, and I cannot wait to see you all back in the world when we relaunch the game.”
Jonathan Strand, Executive Director

Want to Know What’s Next?

We’ll be sharing updates through:

• In-game notifications (December 29, 2025 through March 29, 2026)
• Our website blog + FAQs
• Community channels (IG and Discord)

‍

TL;DR, Just the FAQs:

Why is Eighth Era 1.0 shutting down? Will it come back?

Eighth Era 1.0 is going offline so we can fully rebuild the game from the ground up. Rather than continuing small updates, we’re creating a brand-new experience — Eighth Era 2.0 — launching in H2 2026. This is a planned evolution, not a permanent goodbye.

What happens on December 29, 2025? Can I still play?

Yes. On December 29, the game enters Standby Mode:

• The game remains fully playable
• All monetization is turned off
• A day later on December 30th Battle Pass Season 3: Off the Books launches as the final season and the premium tier is 100% free

You can continue playing and collecting hero coins until shutdown.

What happens on March 29, 2026?

On March 29, 2026, Eighth Era 1.0 servers shut down. After that:

• The game will no longer be playable or available for download

We’ll mark the moment with a farewell message and community send-off.

Will my account or data be deleted?

Yes. After shutdown, Eighth Era 1.0 account data will be deleted for privacy and technical reasons. You’ll start fresh in Eighth Era 2.0.

What happens to my heroes, items, and currencies?

• Heroes, items, levels, and general progress do not carry over
• Any premium currency should be spent before March 29, 2026
• Collectible hero coins DO carry forward and will have value in Eighth Era 2.0

We’ve made the last Battle Pass Season free-to-play, so you have time to finish your Eighth Era 1.0 collections.

Are refunds being offered?

No. We are not offering refunds for past purchases.

Instead, we’ve:

• Given advance notice
• Turned the game fully free
• Ensured collectible coins retain value in the next game

This approach lets us focus resources on building Eighth Era 2.0.

How will I know when Eighth Era 2.0 launches?

We’ll announce it across:

• Our website and blog
• Social media
• Discord
• Email

Stay tuned to our discord, blog, and socials as we highlight some of the new art, systems, and collectibles leading up to the 2.0 launch!

Will Eighth Era 2.0 be on iOS and Android? Will it be free?

Yes. Eighth Era 2.0 will launch on iOS and Android and remain free-to-play with in-app purchases available. Players coming from 1.0 will receive benefits tied to their real life collectible hero, team, and battle pass coins.

How will Eighth Era 2.0 be different?

Eighth Era 2.0 features:

• A new world and storyline
• Fresh artistic style and modern aesthetic
• Tech foundations for long-term future of the game
• Massive updates in battle mechanics and other core gameplay systems
• New and familiar heroes, evolved and reintroduced for a new era

I still have questions — how can I get help?

You can contact us at support@thenicegang.com, use in-game support (until March 29), or ask in our Discord, where moderators and staff can help direct you.