2023-06-27 15:33:03
The week begins with very sad news for the developers of Scavenger Studio, to whom we owe the wonderful Season: A letter to the future. Due to the low number of units sold for this latest game, the CEO of the studio, Amelie Lamarchemade the decision to lay off more than half of the workforce.
“Although Season was critically acclaimed, it fell short of our commercial expectations. […] Despite our efforts to boost sales with content updates and discounts, the game only sold 60,000 copies in its first five months, not nearly enough to allow the studio to survive. […] »
Given the current global economic environment and Season’s financial results, we had no choice but to make the difficult decision to whittle the studio down to a smaller, more sustainable group of developers. Unfortunately, that means we have to part ways with all but regarding sixteen of the Scavengers studio team members. – Amelie LamarchePDG de Scavenger Studio
As the CEO points out, the observation is self-evident: despite a well-chosen release date, at a time not very busy with this year’s very dense calendar, positive reviews galore, his recent Games for Change Awards nominationand a sublime artistic direction, the game will not have sold enough to be profitable.
The video game industry is sometimes unfair. All the intrinsic qualities of a game will never be a guarantee of its profitability.
A state of affairs that resonates with some of the themes of the game: the end of a cycle, of a season, which those who have lived through them will probably never forget. However, we hoped for a very different conclusion to the adventures of our heroine.
It is not given to all independent studios to be financially supported by a contract with a manufacturer, as was the case for ThatGameCompany with Sony (Flow, Flower, Journey). Although Season: A letter to the future has received exposure at various media events, including last year’s State of Play and Summer Game Fest, and notable positioning on the PlayStation Store, that won’t be enough.
We can only regret this outcome for the developers of Scavenger Studio, all the more so following the management setbacks of previous years: where Season might have marked the revival of the studio, and presaged even more accomplished works therefollowing, the game will finally bear witness to the current precariousness of the sectorin which layoffs will have abounded this year.
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