As 2024 winds down, another game studio has closed its doors for good. Deceive Inc. developer Sweet Bandits Studios has announced that it is shutting down, effectively immediately.
In a forum post on Tuesday, the Canadian studio announced that it is “no more” after reaching “the breaking point for the studio”.
“After a long and difficult road of trying to get Deceive inc. in a state where it could thrive, we have reached the breaking point for the studio, unable to continue this adventure with you,” the studio said.
“While this is a moment of great sadness for us, we are happy to have been given the chance to create this universe and share it with you all. We were amazed by the passion of this community and this has been a driving force for us all along, pushing us to try and make this project reach the potential it has. We’ve put our heart and soul into this game and nothing makes us happier than seeing it resonate with other people across the world.”
Sweet Bandits launched Deceive Inc. in 2023 to a “very positive” response from players on Steam. According to the studio, they are working with publisher Tripwire Interactive in order to maintain the game and keep it online.
“We will share news with everyone once we have more details,” they said. “In the meantime, servers and game access will continue as they have been.”
While the company didn’t confirm how many people have lost their jobs, the studio’s website says that it had 18 employees. It’s unclear, however, if that number was still accurate.
For more GPlayr, read about what studio is laying off staff after mixed reviews to its latest early access release. And don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter.