Sweet Bandits Studios, the developer of the spy shooter Deceive Inc., has closed
Another game development studio has closed down. The Canadian indie collective Sweet Bandits Studios announced its shutdown after eight years in operation.
Deceive Inc.
The developers attributed the closure to inadequate performance of their debut game, Deceive Inc.
"We have walked a long and challenging path trying to bring Deceive Inc. to a state where it could thrive. The studio has reached a critical point beyond which it can no longer continue this journey with you," Sweet Bandits Studios wrote in their farewell letter.
Sweet Bandits Studios thanked players for their support and promised not to shut down the Deceive Inc. servers yet. The studio is currently in discussions with the game's publisher, Tripwire Interactive, to find ways to keep the project alive for the audience.
Deceive Inc. is a multiplayer shooter where users play as secret agents equipped with spy gadgets who can disguise themselves as NPCs and various inanimate objects. The game launched on March 21, 2023, on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series. Both critics and players have responded well to Deceive Inc. Its current Metacritic score is 74-76 depending on the platform, and its rating on Steam is a "very positive" 85%.
It's unknown how many people have played Deceive Inc. The peak online count for the Steam version was relatively small for a multiplayer project—8,632 people.
