The grim cadence of online game layoffs continues apace, however this newest information comes with a wierd twist. Prytania Media has shut down studio Chance House efficient instantly. In an e mail to staff reproduced on social media by Polygon reporter Nicole Carpenter, Jeff Pressure, Prytania’s co-founder, seemingly attributed the closure to an as-yet unpublished article from Kotaku reporter Ethan Gach.
Pressure wrote that he obtained questions from Gach concerning an upcoming article and that a few of these questions pertained to a not-yet-public venture codenamed “Vonnegut.” Based on Pressure, after receiving questions on Vonnegut, he had an emergency assembly with its publishers whereby it was determined that the writer would stop funding, ensuing within the venture’s cancellation.
“As a result of the cancellation of the publishing relationship and after careful consideration,” Pressure wrote, “I am closing Possibility Space.”
In an announcement posted on the now defunct Crop Circle Video games web site (archived right here), Crop Circle’s co-founder and Jeff Pressure’s spouse, Annie Delisi Pressure, additionally addressed Gach’s reporting. “I stepped down as CEO this winter on a medical leave,” she wrote, “and while I don’t know the content of Mr. Gach’s article, I have no assurances that my personal health struggles as a rare female game industry CEO will not be covered in his article.”
Pressure additionally commented on Crop Circle’s closure, attributing the studio’s shutdown to an lack of ability to safe funding for its tasks. “There was not a single organization of any kind willing to invest in continued game development,” she wrote.
Prytania Media was based by the husband and spouse duo in 2021. Earlier than Prytania, Jeff based Guild Wars developer ArenaNet in 2000 earlier than occurring to discovered State of Decay developer Undead Labs in 2009. In its brief existence, Pyrtania accrued 4 subsidiaries: the corporate based Crop Circle Video games and Chance House in 2021 and added India-based studios Fang & Claw and Dawon Leisure in 2023.
Undead Labs was acquired by Microsoft in 2018. Based on a 2022 report from Gach, after its acquisition, the studio confronted a problematic transition interval during which Microsoft’s hands-off strategy “allowed dysfunction to fester, leaving some of the studio’s more vulnerable employees to fend for themselves.”
In an e mail to The Verge, Mark Neschis, head of company communications of Kotaku dad or mum firm G/O Media, declined to touch upon Gach’s reporting or in the event that they obtained a proper response from Prytania. The Verge has additionally reached out to Prytania Media for remark. Ethan Gach’s reporting on Prytania Media, Crop Circle Video games, and Chance Video games has not but been revealed.