Independent French studio Arkedo - the folks behind Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit - has disbanded after seven years. An announcement from co-founder Aurelien Regard said that the outfit wasn't closing down, but "no one's employed anymore. No more games are produced either."
However, since completing Hell Yeah! Arkedo managed to finish two more games before breaking up the band. "We hope to release them soon and it should be fine on this side," Regard wrote, emphasising that the studio hasn't shut down, gone into administration or hit bankruptcy.
So what happened? A number of things, according to Regard - the most important being the fact that the studio simply failed to secure a project with a publisher following Hell Yeah!'s release. "It has been decided to disband the team when there still was enough money to get good conditions for everyone, rather than replace permanent positions with interns and a bad atmosphere," he wrote.
"As in any human matter, it is important to know when to stop, to get a clean situation. It is precisely because we did this at this time that everyone from Arkedo is still having a good time together, even after it's officially over."
Regard also covered his time working on Hell Yeah! briefly, noting that "the project was a little too big for us... the game has a lot of things we love, but also things we regret. Because we didn’t have enough time, or experience, and we reached our limits. It’s no big deal, but one needs to learn something out of it."
Arkedo made a name for itself in the console market after impressing gamers with a number of bite-size PSN and XBLIG releases. The relative success of Jump, Swap and Pixel attracted the attention of SEGA, with which the studio worked with to publish Hell Yeah! digitally. Although Regard noted the two companies' working relationship as "excellent", it was "not really compatible with a middle size company structure."
Regard and co-founder Camille Guermonprez have focused their efforts on their own individual projects. Regard plans to create his own independent game on his tod, while Guermonprez intends to push forward with his publishing house. Both may collaborate again in the future, he said.
However, since completing Hell Yeah! Arkedo managed to finish two more games before breaking up the band. "We hope to release them soon and it should be fine on this side," Regard wrote, emphasising that the studio hasn't shut down, gone into administration or hit bankruptcy.
So what happened? A number of things, according to Regard - the most important being the fact that the studio simply failed to secure a project with a publisher following Hell Yeah!'s release. "It has been decided to disband the team when there still was enough money to get good conditions for everyone, rather than replace permanent positions with interns and a bad atmosphere," he wrote.
"As in any human matter, it is important to know when to stop, to get a clean situation. It is precisely because we did this at this time that everyone from Arkedo is still having a good time together, even after it's officially over."
Regard also covered his time working on Hell Yeah! briefly, noting that "the project was a little too big for us... the game has a lot of things we love, but also things we regret. Because we didn’t have enough time, or experience, and we reached our limits. It’s no big deal, but one needs to learn something out of it."
Arkedo made a name for itself in the console market after impressing gamers with a number of bite-size PSN and XBLIG releases. The relative success of Jump, Swap and Pixel attracted the attention of SEGA, with which the studio worked with to publish Hell Yeah! digitally. Although Regard noted the two companies' working relationship as "excellent", it was "not really compatible with a middle size company structure."
Regard and co-founder Camille Guermonprez have focused their efforts on their own individual projects. Regard plans to create his own independent game on his tod, while Guermonprez intends to push forward with his publishing house. Both may collaborate again in the future, he said.
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Comments
Ergo 25 Feb 2013 13:32
1/1
This is actually a real shame--Hell Yeah! probably wasn't their best effort, but it certainly was their most high profile, and it's unfortunate they couldn't keep on rolling.