Indie devs working with Humble Games were also blindsided by the publisher reportedly laying off all employees: "This will have drastic consequences"
Jul. 24, 2024Unsighted, Signalis, Ghost Song, and more developers react to the news
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Indie developers working with boutique publisher Humble Games - which helped bring Signalis, Void Bastards, Unpacking, and more absolute gems to store shelves - were apparently just as blindsided by the news of mass layoffs as the rest of us.
Humble Games staff began to spread news of layoffsjust yesterday across social media, while parent company Ziff Davis later called it a “restructuring of operations” that was “difficult but necessary.” The company reportedly let go of all in-house Humble Games staff,opting to have the publisher’s upcoming slate of games managed by an unnamed third-companyinstead. It should be noted that Humble Bundle remains unaffected.
At least a handful of developers who have games signed under Humble Games (both released and upcoming) found out about the news via social media, too. “It sucks that even devs that published games with Humble are learning this right now, with no prior warning,“tweetedTiani Pixel, co-developer behind the fantastic Unsighted. “I’m afraid of what this will mean not only for the future of our game, Unsighted, but all games they’ve published. Who’s gonna keep the store pages up? We don’t know yet.”
“This will have drastic consequences not only for Humble employees, but all studios that worked with them and need the income from the games,” they continued, before assuring that her team is “in a comfortable position” with its upcoming stunnerAbyss X Zero, which “is doing some great numbers.”
“My sincerest best wishes to all the former Humble Games staff, several of whom helped make Unsighted what it was,” Abyss X Zero co-developer Fernanda Dias alsotweeted. “Thank you so much for working so hard on so many amazing games. This is incredibly heartbreaking news holy shit.”
Ghost Song’s mostly-solo developer took toRedditto say that “for a publisher, you couldn’t have asked for a better group of people, always kind and supportive.” The developer also “hoped to work with them again one day, but alas.”
While developers didn’t know what to make of the news at first, multiple studios behind upcoming games have since come out to clarify that everything is sort of business as usual. Stunning MetroidvaniaBō: Path of the Teal Lotuscame out just last week, and developer Squid Shock was quick topoint outthat the team “will continue working on Bō as if nothing changed.”
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The teams behind beautiful co-op platformer Never Alone 2 and magical action game Wizard of Legend 2 both announced that development would continue on their sequels unaffected. Exit 73 Studios stated it would “continue supporting #BLUD with upcoming content updates now and in the future.”
Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that’s vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he’ll soon forget.
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