Seattle-based game studio Galvanic Games has announced its imminent shut down, due to low sales of its latest release, Wizard with a Gun, and difficulties penning deals for new projects. According to Patrick Morgan, Galvanic’s President and Founder, while the studio has had its most productive year yet, current economic circumstances have derailed plans.
Galvanic Games has operated since 2015, and had developed some financial runway in the release of games like Some Distant Memory and Rapture Rejects. That runway reportedly ended over the course of pitching new projects to publishers – a lengthy process which has reportedly grown more complicated over the last few years.
In his sign-off, Morgan acknowledged that Galvanic Games had a good run, and that working with Devolver Digital on Wizard with a Gun was “a dream come true.” Over the last decade, Galvanic Games has attempted to create “unique, weird, and interesting games” while “building a tight-knit, productive team focussed on a healthy and creative culture.”
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Per Morgan, Galvanic Games achieved these lofty goals in its run, despite the many forces pressuring the studio.
“I may never get over the irony of spending a decade building my ideal team, only for it to end after our most productive year,” Morgan said. “The dedication, creativity, and hard work of every person on our team have been nothing short of extraordinary.”
To support staff who are now out of work, Morgan has shared a list of impacted staff and their roles on Twitter / X, in the hopes they may find other work. As noted, they enter an incredibly unstable jobs market, which is growing smaller, month-to-month. Over the last year, a number of major game studios have initiated layoffs or shut down entirely due to a need for cost-cutting, and as a salve for low game sales.
There is hope that stability can be achieved in the long term, but it will be a slow healing process. Those in a position to hire are encouraged to reach out to Galvanic’s former staff on LinkedIn.