Ahoy mateys, Weve been at sea looking deeply into the horizon for the last couple of months, so my/our apologies for the return to quiet. Our ship was becalmed as we awaited certain confirmations of our upcoming trajectory, and unfortunately it looks like the wind will no longer be blowing behind our sails. Dropping the nautical jargon for clarity, the last few months weve been going through bankruptcy procedures in France. This started when communication broke down between us and our publisher, leading to payments not continuing. Alas, with our publisher not continuing funding and no other sources of continued funding to finalize the game, the French government has elected to shut down the studio effective immediately. (Like at the end of the work day today we cannot legally continue working.) This is an eventuality we had become worried about as we crossed into June, but honestly it wasnt until the last few weeks that it went from an unlikely maybe to an inevitable situation. Weve tried to remain positive, continuing to work on the game, but due to the legal specifics of this case, we were put back in a closed bottle and unable to talk about the situation. Ultimately, we appear to be another casualty of the current downturn in the video game industry. So with that, we are deeply saddened to announce the end of our time working on the development of Orphan Age, and that Studio Black Flag will no longer be sailing as of the end of this month. Before continuing, a brief FAQ to answer what I anticipate will be the most common questions asked:

Why cant you find another publisher and continue development?

Im not able to get into the specifics of our contract with our publisher, but we simply do not have ownership over Orphan Age in a way that would allow us to shop it to another publisher. As many have seen, the market is also heavily dried up for indie publishing. Even if we could re-secure publishing rights, it could be an incredibly difficult, lengthy process to find someone open to supporting our project. It is possible that development will continue under our publisher, but at this time that is entirely out of our hands.

What happens to the Kickstarter and off-site backers?

Unfortunately, the money contributed through our crowdfunding campaign has long since been spent, and the nature of utilizing a platform like that is that there is an inherent risk of not receiving a return on your investment. We wish this wasnt the case, but unfortunately backing a product that isnt out is an inherently risky investment, and with Orphan Age the risk didnt pay off. Currently were exploring options to release our most finalized build of Orphan Age to our community, but theres some legal issues we need to explore before confirming. For full clarity, this will not be anything approaching a final, polished product, but it will be significantly further along than our previously released demo.

Now, what does the future look like for Studio Black Flag?

Unfortunately, this is the end of our adventure. While we had been exploring smaller, secondary projects at one point, the last few months have dried up all of our funding. This has led to Studio Black Flag going through the aforementioned bankruptcy trial and situation, which as of this week has led to the imminent closure of Studio Black Flag. As today is our last day, well be working on assisting our employees in preparing for finding their next roles. Our hope was that wed be able to touch-up and share a final build so the community could at least experience Orphan Age again, but as of this moment thats outside of our abilities. Finally, I leave you with a comment from our studio founder and game director, Adrien Forestier: Today marks the end of Black Flag in a pretty brutal way and in slow motion at the same time. I'm not sure if it signifies the end of Orphan Age as the project may end up in other hands, but it is my hope that it finally sees a release. I'm alternating between shock and numbness and it's just too early for me to address what's next and why we're in this situation. We've been so close to a release, several times, and there's a lot to regret after all the work done along the many iterations and restarts we went through. Orphan Age was always a slippery concept and when it's time I'll reflect publicly on this even if it matters only to a dozen players. I'd like to end on a positive note, because I will fondly remember the friends I made along this journey, the lessons learned, and all those moments that I will treasure. Thanks to all the people who worked, helped and participated in this adventure who made this quarter of my life feel like the blink of an eye. My final thanks go to all our backers, followers, and everyone who followed Orphan Age; our wholesome community who supported us throughout every stage, even in the darkness. It's heartbreaking to end this adventure on these words and to think about all our supporters we are letting down. As I said earlier, while it's the end for Black Flag, I'll do whatever I can so it's not the end for Orphan Age.

[ 2024-10-02 09:08:59 CET ] [ Original post ]