How Long Will The Blackout Last?
You may have first heard of video game developer The Chinese Room back in 2013 when they took on the mantle of Amnesia in the anticipated sequel; A Machine for Pigs. While that didn’t exactly wow audiences, they certainly upped their game with the critical darling Everyone’s Gone to the Rapture, which managed to dominate at last year’s BAFTAs.
Alas, it appears there is trouble in paradise.
According to an article on Gamespot –
The Chinese Room, the British studio known for games like Dear Esther, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, and Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, is facing an uncertain future, it seems. In a blog post, founder Dan Pinchbeck confirmed layoffs and said the studio is “going dark.”
Pinchbeck said he had a non life-threatening health issue in June, which gave him pause and led him and the team to “have a serious think about things.” This happened at the end of the developer of the studio’s newest game, So Let Us Melt, and after a stressful-sounding time when the team was conducting game pitches and negotiations to sign a deal for a new game.
“To cut a long story short, the situation–between financial pressures, trying to keep the lights on for the employed team, the stress of end-of-development, health issues–just wasn’t a tenable thing anymore. It was time to take a break, recharge, recover, and have a good think about the future,” Pinchbeck said.
The result was that it was decided to lay off the development team. “So we let our team go,” Pinchbeck said. “Layoffs are never pleasant, particularly when you’re all trying to wrap a game. We did our best to try and help the team secure new positions, and then we all–the whole team–threw everything we had at wrapping the game. It didn’t feel fair to anyone, least of all people who had spent a year working on a project, to have its completion and release overshadowed by news about the studio closing, so we’ve held off on the announcement until we felt we were clear of all of that.”
Also in the blog post, Pinchbeck confirmed that The Chinese Room is not ending. This is only “a pause.” The Chinese Room’s games are staying on sale, as are things like merch and soundtracks, while Pinchbeck says the team will stay active on social medial. Right now, it sounds like The Chinese Room is only three people. They are working on a game called 13th Interior (formerly known as Total Dark) and will bring on a bigger team when needed. Looking ahead, Pinchbeck said the studio has secured funding for a new game called Little Orpheus, and this project will go into the prototyping phase at the end of this year.
This will undoubtedly effect their future projects such as the ominous soundly 13th Interior, but will this drastically change the company for the better or worse? Either way, we’re looking forward to see what else The Chinese Room has in store for us when it comes back into the light.
