Flaming Fowl, the studio behind the Gloomhaven video game adaptation, has announced its next game: Ironmarked, a medieval co-op RPG with turn-based combat. The only problem is the studio has failed to secure funding for the game – so in the same post as its announcement, Flaming Fowl has also confirmed Ironmarked is entering a production pause.
As a result of a “current lack of funding in the games industry” work on the project will not go ahead, and Flaming Fowl will also be downsized with layoffs. More than 20 people will lose their jobs as part of these changes. Per Flaming Fowl, the game’s chaotic announcement is a means to help those staff that will be looking for new work, as it demonstrates their talent.
“Although this is a difficult and sad time for everyone involved, we are very proud of what we were creating and want to share that with all of you,” Flaming Fowl said. “We also hope that by releasing this demo, we can help those people leaving us to secure new roles elsewhere, by demonstrating their outstanding work on the project.”
Flaming Fowl has also encouraged fans to wishlist the game, in the hopes that enough wishlists may inspire investment into the project in future.
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With work on Ironmarked now concluded, remaining staff at Flaming Fowl will turn their focus to a “smaller game” that can be fully-funded by the studio. Should this game prove to be a success, there may be potential for work on Ironmarked to continue – but for now, it appears the announced game is on the backburner.
Flaming Fowl is just the latest development company to announce trouble with funding new game projects, joining a long line of others in this announcement. Recently, studios including Die Gute Fabrik and Eggnut announced similar challenges, which in both cases led to complete studio shutdown.
A number of other games and games-adjacent companies have also announced sweeping layoffs to contend with recent economic and financial challenges, including Sony, Microsoft, Unity, Twitch, Discord, and more.
As always in these situations, our thoughts are with those impacted by the layoffs at Flaming Fowl.
