Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries is a vehicle simulation video game for Microsoft Windows, released in 2002. It is a standalone expansion of MechWarrior 4: Vengeance, based on the BattleTech MechWarrior game universe. It was announced on July 9, 2009 that Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries and the Clan and Inner Sphere expansions would be re-released free.
By April 22, 2010 Microsoft had cleared its free release[4] and on April 30, 2010, MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries was released to the general public by MekTek as a free download.[5] However, due to the massive influx of 100,000 downloads and web site accesses,MekTek.netand related services crashed.[6] MekTek recovered the MekMatch match making service on May 1, 2010 and the forum was restored on May 2, 2010.
In the following years, MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries was no longer available free. MekTek expressed their intent to move away from the BattleTech franchise,[8] and a new group interested in maintaining free versions appeared but encountered difficulties securing permission to continue offering the game as a free download.