Prytania Media has closed the Crop Circle Games studio
Sad news for Crop Circle Games. The studio, opened by ArenaNet and Undead Labs founder Jeff Strain, closed its doors before releasing a single game.
"After more than two years of work, the creation of a playable prototype, dozens of pitches to publishers and investors, we have not found financial support for further development of the game. Gamers' tastes and market conditions have changed since the launch of the studio, which was opened during the pandemic, and the game turned out to be commercially unviable," says a message on the Crop Circle Games website.
According to the Game Developer portal, the studio officially ceased to exist two months after it became known about the massive cuts in it. A number of employees claim that the dismissals were "extremely disorderly and disrespectful." It is also noted that in February layoffs took place at Prytania Media, the parent company of Crop Circle Games, among the founders of which Strain is also listed.
Strain announced the opening of Crop Circle Games in October 2022. Although the announcement of the studio's closure says that it has not found financial support for further work on the debut game, Crop Circle Games has attracted investments in the past — at the end of 2022, it received $ 25 million from the Transcend Fund and other investors. The money was supposed to go to the development of a story sandbox using a new IP.
It is not known how things are going in other subsidiary studios of Prytania Media. It's about Possibility Space, Dawon Entertainment and Fang & Claw.
