Reigns and Card Shark developers Nerial have announced that they are shutting down or at least “going into hibernation mode”, following a discussion with their parent company Devolver Digital. From the sound of things, the entire team is now “looking for new opportunities,” as the jargon for studio closures goes.
CEO Tamara Alliot and creative director François Alliot announced the news on social networks in a joint letter, saying that “we have decided with our partners at Devolver to end development at the studio.” They do not detail the reasons for the closure, only saying that they need a change after 13 years at the helm of the group.
“While this marks the end of Nerial as we know it, it is not the end of game development for us,” the Alliots continue. “We are returning to our roots. François’ relentless drive to create games is stronger than ever, but we must first pause and reflect on everything that has happened, before returning with a new perspective.”
The Alliots also posted articles about the closure on LinkedIn. “Nerial has been an integral part of François Alliot’s life and mine for 13 years,” writing Tamara Alliot on her LinkedIn page. “(It) is with great sadness that we stop now, as we have the best team in the world, but we also want to take some time off. The following people at Nerial are affected by this decision, please hire them, you won’t regret it. Oscar Harrington-Shaw (story and writing), Helen O’Dell (art direction), Neil Goodman (lead programmer), Gordon Speirs (programmer), Ben Obikoya (lead programmer), Neil Bull (Quality Assurance Manager), AJ Kerr (Lead Producer).”
On his own LinkedIn page, François Alliot adds that he will “return to a pure independent”.
This one hurts! Nerial has created some of my favorite games of the last decade. Card Shark is a beautiful and mannered period puzzle game devoted to the obscurities of card cheating. The Crush House is a stifling study in how people can be reduced to content by gamified surveillance systems. Reigns is a bloody comedy royale and stylish, light-hearted strategy game played by swiping right or left.
I have to say that I am not hugely impressed by the explanations given about Nerial’s “hibernation” and the associated layoffs. On paper, this raises the question of why the departing founders couldn’t have simply let the company continue in other hands, while they take a sabbatical.
However, it seems likely that this decision also reflects the financial situation of parent company Devolver. In August, company bosses told shareholders they would like cease trading on the London Stock Exchangefollowing a “period of significant disruption and volatility” industry-wide, during which they had to swallow “several writedowns of underperforming securities in an increasingly competitive and unpredictable market environment.”
Whatever the causes of the shutdown, it’s a rotten industry that can’t keep a team like that working. Good luck to everyone involved.
