In a surprising turn of events, Humble Games, a prominent indie game publisher known for supporting critically acclaimed titles, has shut down, leaving its entire staff of 36 employees without jobs. The news was confirmed by former employees on LinkedIn, who expressed shock and disappointment at the sudden closure.
Nicola Kwan, a former business development manager at Humble Games, stated that the company had been closed and all employees laid off. Emilee Kieffer, a senior QA generalist, echoed Kwan’s statement, emphasizing that the entire team had been let go. Brea Timmerman, the associate director of brand marketing, added that all employees were informed about the termination of their roles during a meeting.
Kieffer, reflecting on the closure, wrote on LinkedIn, “The game industry is volatile, it’s been inundated by people who only want exponential growth at the expense of making great games with great teams.” She added, “But I believe we have the power to create studios that benefit us as game developers and not people that only see us as money-printing machines.”
Neither Humble Games nor its parent company, Ziff Davis, has commented on the layoffs. However, it appears that Humble Bundle, the well-known digital storefront known for its discount bundles, will remain operational and unaffected by the closure.
The news of the shutdown comes as a shock to the gaming community. Humble Games had been actively releasing new titles, including Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus, a myth-inspired platformer released this week. The company was also actively developing Wizard of Legend 2, an isometric dungeon crawler, as well as Never Alone 2 and a number of other projects listed on its website.
Humble Games had gained recognition for its support of independent developers and its association with critically acclaimed games like Signalis, Unpacking, and Slay the Spire. The company had also been a partner in the Triple-I initiative, a collective of indie developers and publishers.
The closure of Humble Games highlights the challenges faced by indie developers and publishers in the competitive and ever-evolving gaming industry. It also raises concerns about the pressure for rapid growth and its potential impact on the creation of quality games.
