Company Of Heroes 2 Multiplayer Standing Alone In June

Company of Heroes 2: The Western Front Armies is a curious release. It's a multiplayer-only expandalone spin-off from Company of Heroes 2, but with two different armies--the new US Forces and Oberkommando West--and 8 new maps but still able to play on CoH 2 maps and against plain old CoH 2 players. But who's it for? Perhaps we'll answer that question come June 24, as publishers Sega have announced that's when it'll launch.

The Western Front Armies costs £14.99, but to make things weirder will also sell each army individually a little cheaper as its own standalone. However, CoH 2 is regularly on sale for cheaper than this and comes with a single-player campaign too. Why, it was £10.19 only a fortnight ago. So the main interest The Western Front Armies will presumably come from CoH 2 players who want the new maps and armies, but then why's it a standalone?

Sales of CoH 2 were stopped in Russia and Eastern Europe due to controversy over some of the Red Army's actions during CoH 2's single-player campaign, and this is a huge PC market to be out of. I suppose to people who don't really research prices it's a more enticing entry point to multiplayer, and appearing to be a newer game might help sales a little too. Perhaps it'll be an easier sell as an 'eSport,' which is all the rage nowadays. And who knows, maybe some people hate snow so much they won't even condone it virtually. But it is still a bit weird.

Here's a trailer you've seen before, which now has a little "Pre-order now" notice on the end: