League of Geeks – the studio behind Armello, Jumplight Odyssey, and Solium Infernum – has announced it’s going into “hibernation for the foreseeable future”, following its decision to cut 50 percent of its workforce at the end of last year.
Back in December, the studio said it had been affected by a combination of “rapidly rising operation costs, a worsening AUD/USD exchange rate, poor early access sales [of starship management sim Jumplight Odyssey], and the unprecedented withdrawal of funding opportunities across the industry”. Alongside layoffs at the studio, it confirmed development of Jumplight Odyssey would be paused “indefinitely”.
Since months on and the studio’s fortunes have clearly not improved. In a post on the League of Geeks website, studio co-founders Ty Carey, Blake Mizzi, and Trent Kusters wrote, “The economic situation in games being what it is right now, we have made the decision to put LoG into hibernation for the foreseeable future and take some extended time off.”
“The vast majority of our team have moved onto exciting new endeavours,” the post continued, “and those who remain are going to take a well deserved break over the next few months.”
“We’re not sure when (or if) we will resurrect this great beast, but we’re incredibly proud of all we’ve achieved, both in the experiences we’ve crafted together, the great developers who made LoG a world-class development environment, the peers we inspired along the way, and of course, those community members who believed in what we made, how we made it, and supported us fiercely in those convictions. Now it’s time for rest, some play, and other opportunities.”
Although the studio is winding down, all its games will remain online and continue to be supported – active development, however, will cease. Jumplight Odyssey will, inevitably, remain on an indefinite hiatus, but the team still wants to bring it out of early access over the next 12 months. “This is unlikely to be the fully realised v1.0 release we had originally planned,” it notes, “though we will try to find some way to tuck the game in with our limited, remaining resources.”
Development on turn-based grand strategy game Solium Infernum will also come to a close, with League of Geeks noting, “Sales revenue cannot fund further active development or DLC.” However, the studio says it still has a “couple of treats” up its sleeve, alongside bug fixes and minor content – so players can expect “a lil update or two” before thing wrap up for good.
As for Armello, the studio’s first game released back in 2015, it will “continue to cruise along as it has for the past few years, rotating seasonal content and providing a hit of heroism for our furry adventurers”. The Armello Board Game, meanwhile, won’t be affected.
“Makin’ videogames is hard, excruciatingly hard these past few years,” the studio’s post concludes, “but the smart, lovely people we got to do it with, both inside LoG and out, made this crazy business worth it every single day.”
