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Humble Games ‘restructure’ creates confusion among developers

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Humble Games ‘restructure’ creates confusion among developers

As a long-time fan of indie games, I’ve seen my fair share of ups and downs in the industry. But the recent turn of events with Humble Games has left me more than just a little concerned. The sudden layoffs at the company have left several game developers, like Stairway Games and Squid Shock Studios, in a precarious position, unsure about how to update their games on consoles.

Within a few days of Squid Shock Studios releasing Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus on July 17, Humble Games, its publisher, revealed on July 23 that they were letting go of 36 employees, potentially disrupting the game’s crucial initial release phase. Notably, Humble Games is known for publishing critically acclaimed indie games such as Coral Island, Slay the Spire, and Unpacking. However, according to affected staff members who shared their experiences on social media and LinkedIn, the company appears to have no remaining employees. The Humble Games brand has been passed on to third-party consultancy The Powell Group, as Aftermath reported. This turn of events left some developers pondering over the implications for their games, particularly regarding console updates.

On July 25th, two days following the announcement of Humble Games’ restructuring, Stairway Games shared on their X account that Nintendo Switch players can transfer to the Steam version of their hit life simulator, Coral Island, without having to pay for it again. In their post, Stairway Games expressed concerns about porting their game to the Nintendo Switch, a promise made to their Kickstarter supporters, without support from Humble Games. However, Michael Brown, a representative from Humble Games, told TopMob that there have been no changes in the developers’ plans for porting and all projects are proceeding as planned.

Humble Games ‘restructure’ creates confusion among developers

Brown explained that some studios are in the middle of adjusting to their new contacts, and they are addressing and resolving any concerns or problems related to updating console ports as fast as possible.

As a seasoned developer with years of experience under my belt, I can empathize with the frustration of wanting progress to move faster. I’ve been there myself, waiting for backend permissions to push updates out, especially when you have an eager community anxiously awaiting new content.

A few days after, similar to Stairway Games’ statement, the developers of Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus, Squid Shock Studios, lamented that the company restructuring was a significant hindrance for their ability to provide updates or quick fixes for their latest release on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X.

As a dedicated gamer, I’ve been following the situation closely since the Humble Games announcement over a week ago. Unfortunately, four game studios I frequent are still unsure about how they will update their console titles, adding to the confusion. Some studios like Stairway Games and Squid Shock Studios have decided to take matters into their own hands: Stairway is reaching out to a lawyer, while Squid Shock has set up a Patreon page.

— Coral Island (@coralislandgame) July 26, 2024

Brent Kobayashi, one of the founders at Meowza Games (creators of Mineko’s Night Market), shared with TopMob that their plans for porting the game are temporarily on hold due to a lack of console backend authorization. Kobayashi added, “We had released a version of the game just before layoffs which resurfaced some old glitches.” Humble Bundle served as an intermediary and managed contracts with the porting team. As a result, Meowza Games currently doesn’t have contact with either the porting team or the publisher to discuss this issue at the moment. They are waiting for a response from their representative, but so far, they haven’t heard anything back. Until they have clarity about their future relationship and plans with them, Meowza Games can’t predict with confidence what will happen with the ports in the short term.

A person connected with Humble Games, who preferred to stay unnamed due to apprehension about potential repercussions from a confidentiality agreement, claimed that Squid Shock Games felt left in the lurch and deserted by Humble’s leadership following their requests for guidance via an internal Slack channel. Instead of receiving clear responses, they were met with farewell messages from those who had been let go. In the blink of an eye, communication regarding console ports supposedly ceased. Now, console gamers are lagging behind Windows PC users on Steam by several patches, and they’ve encountered bugs too. However, there have been signs of improved communication as per the anonymous source, with initial introductions to new contacts at Powell Group being made. Yet, at the time of reporting, the console port pipeline was still a concern.

As a gamer, I’ve been left in the dark about why The Powell Group stepped in for Humble Games. All I’ve heard is they were brought on to find a buyer, but when that didn’t work out, they took over managing the game catalog only enough to meet contractual obligations and preserve the existing revenue streams. Frankly, this makes me doubtful that any team, no matter how dedicated, will have the necessary resources to do their job well under these circumstances.

Humble Games received a communication from TopMob aiming to clarify aspects of the proposed transaction, as well as the role of The Powell Group in relation to their game collection.

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2024-07-31 23:49

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