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.”