Paradox Tectonic, the Berkeley, California studio behind the unreleased life simulator game , has been shut down by its parent company, Paradox Interactive. According to information, all 24 employees lost their jobs .
The news of Paradox Tectonic’s closure comes a day after Paradox Interactive announced the decision. . The game’s troubled development was halted by deadlines in three different early access release windows before the title was canceled entirely.
“This is difficult and poignant news for our colleagues at Tectonic, who have worked so hard on it. Life is with you Early Access release,” Paradox Interactive CEO Fredik Wester said in a statement. “Unfortunately, with the cancellation of their only project, we have to make the tough decision to close the studio. We are deeply grateful for their hard work in making Paradox a new genre.” Wester said in a separate statement said that the life simulation “did not meet our expectations” and that it would not be able to deliver a version that we would be “satisfied with” at the time of release.
Paradox Interactive has good reason to be wary of releasing a bad game. The studio is still feeling the sting of Colossal Order . After its release in October, the game had a number of bugs that put a huge strain on PC graphics cards, making it difficult to play in 4K. The sequel also failed to launch with mod support and its promised features The Giant Order caused “Overwhelmingly Negative” feedback on Steam, forcing a refund.
It is also the third major publisher to close a game studio in the last week. On Monday, Pieces Interactive announced that it would be shutting down after release Alone in the dark reboot. behind the Seattle-based developer Armed mageannounced the cancellation on Friday.
The closures are also the latest bad news in a year already filled with layoffs and studio closings. Obsidian Publishing tracker predicts 10,800 layoffs this year, an alarming number that already exceeds last year’s figures.
