A horror game studio has been shut down due to cyberattacks and poor sales

Just two months after the third-person action horror game Lost souls Following its release, developer Jukai Studio abruptly closed its doors, citing a myriad of issues including poor game sales and multiple cyberattacks from an unknown perpetrator. Developer It was moved to X/Twitter on December 22 To announce the sudden closure. Studio Gokai said that was part of the problem Lost soulsVery poor reception and sales, leaving the team “completely unable to sustain the company”.

Lost soulsthe studio's first project about a man who uncovers the secrets of a haunted city, was released on October 25 to critical acclaim. Metacritic And opencritic. Although there were only two core people and several contract individuals working on the game, according to Jukai Studio, things ultimately were unsustainable as they were, especially due to the constant cyberattacks.

“We did everything we could to make this happen [Stray Souls] Until it's finished in the best possible way, but for the duration, we, our publishing staff, are other publishers [developer] “Our teams and those close to us have been constantly attacked by online bullies, and some of you, as our community, have also been tortured with unwanted messages and emails,” Studio Jukai said in a statement. “We understand that you did not want to continue actively supporting us for the obvious reasons mentioned above. The matter is now in the hands of our lawyers, so we cannot talk about it any further, but know that we will not abandon it despite the studio closure.

Jukai Studio's closure came on the same day as its publisher Versus Evil, the company behind the excellent tactical RPG franchise The banner sagawhich also It closed on December 22, just three months after its tenth anniversary. As a result, everyone who worked on Versus Evil was laid off, according to GamesIndustry.biz. Interestingly, even though Jukai Studio closed its doors, no one was technically laid off because, as the team said, “the developer has never operated as a large company.”

Kotaku I have reached out to Jukai Studio and Versus Evil for comment.

Jukai Studio and Versus Evil recently thanked everyone who has supported them over the years. Jukai Studio said: “We hope that 2024 will be a year of positive changes in the world of game development.” I hope so too, especially Several individual developers have been fired in the past year And swarm to Studios closed. It has truly been a turbulent and devastating year for the gaming industry.