Earthblade Is Officially Cancelled

Developers Cite Internal "Fracture"

Earthblade, the highly anticipated game from the studio behind the indie sensation Celeste, has been officially cancelled due to internal conflicts within the development team. Extremely OK Games (EXOK), the developers, announced the cancellation on their website in a post titled "Final Earthblade Update." In this announcement, EXOK Director Maddy Thorson provided insight into the reasons behind the cancellation and outlined the studio's future plans.

"Late last month, Noel and I made the difficult decision to cancel Earthblade. We start the year with a significant, yet relieving, setback," Thorson explained, expressing her apologies to the fans who had eagerly awaited the game's release. She admitted that the team was still coming to terms with the situation.

Thorson revealed that a major reason for the cancellation was the "fracture" that emerged within the team, particularly involving herself, EXOK Computer Programmer Noel Berry, and former Art Director Pedro Medeiros. The core of the conflict was a "disagreement about the IP rights of Celeste," though Thorson did not delve into specifics, citing the sensitive nature of the issue.

The disagreement led to a resolution where Medeiros parted ways with EXOK to work on his new game, Neverway, under a different studio. Despite the split, Thorson stressed that there are no hard feelings and urged the community to treat Medeiros and his new team with respect.

"While losing Pedro was a significant factor, it wasn't the sole reason for cancelling Earthblade. It prompted us to reassess whether pushing forward was the best course of action," Thorson elaborated. She noted that despite the project's potential, it had not progressed as expected given its extended development timeline. The immense success of Celeste had placed considerable pressure on the team to exceed their previous achievements, which Thorson admitted contributed to the exhaustion felt during development. Ultimately, the team felt they had lost their way, leading to the decision to concede and admit defeat.

EXOK’s Future Plans

With many team members having moved on, Thorson and Berry are now looking to learn from this experience and start anew with smaller-scale projects. They are currently in the prototyping phase, experimenting at a comfortable pace, aiming to recapture the joy of game development as they did with Celeste and TowerFall. Thorson expressed hope for future collaborations with former team members and concluded on an optimistic note, "We gave it our all, and life goes on. We're excited to return to our roots and find joy in our creative process once again."

Earthblade was envisioned as an "explor-action platformer" centered around the story of Névoa, the child of Fate, who returns to a ruined Earth to piece together the remnants of the desolate planet.