Nightingale developer Inflexion Games has announced the closure of its UK office and the “restructuring” of its Canadian studio, saying its Victorian fantasy survival game’s early access launch “hasn’t been successful enough to continue [at our] previous size”.
Nightingale released into Steam early access back in February, hitting a peak of 47,569 concurrent players. But as those numbers rapidly dwindled and reviews remained middling, Inflexion boss Aaryn Flynn admitted things were “not quite where we want them to be”. Six months later, Flynn shared a similar sentiment despite efforts to improve the situation, telling players, “We are not satisfied with where the game is at, we’re not satisfied with the overall sentiment, we’re not satisfied with our player numbers”.
And, unfortunately, Inflexion is now beginning to feel the impact of Nightingale’s early access struggles more acutely. Following last week’s reports Inflexion was poised to close its UK arm, the studio has confirmed the news in a message shared on social media.
“The past few weeks here at Inflexion have been incredibly challenging, and no words can adequately express the sadness we feel,” Flynn wrote in the statement. “Like many other studios over the past few years, we have been hit by the stark realities of the industry, and after exploring every possible option, we’ve had to make the difficult decision to let go of some of our remarkable and talented team members.” Flynn did not specify the extent of the layoffs, but GamesIndustry.biz sources claim “at least 22 people” will be impacted by the reductions “based on internal communications they’ve had access to.”
“Although we’re proud of what we’ve accomplished with Nightingale to date – as well as the enthusiasm and support from our community,” Flynn continued, “the Early Access release hasn’t been commercially successful enough to continue development at our studio’s previous size. As a result, we’re undergoing a restructuring process in Canada, and we will also be closing our UK office. Our priority is to support each member of the team affected by the reductions as they search for new opportunities. We thank them for their invaluable contributions to Nightingale – it would not have been possible without their immense talent and passion for adventuring in the Faewilds”.
“While this is a difficult moment for the entire team, we will continue to work tirelessly, alongside our players, as we move forward as a studio”, Flynn concluded, adding he would be “available to answer questions from the community” and providing more details on future Nightingale updates soon. “I hope our players will join me in expressing heartfelt thanks to our departing team members for everything they’ve contributed to.”
Today’s news continues a devastating 2024 for the games industry, with around 13,000 industry employees believed to have lost their jobs since the start of the year – and that’s in addition to the 10,500 workers laid off in 2023. So why are these layoffs occurring? GamesIndustry.biz’s Chris Dring shared his thoughts earlier this year.
