‘Darkwood’ developer shuts down indefinitely due to “destructive” work-life balance

Acid Wizard Studio, developer of the survival horror Darkwood, announced that it will be taking an indefinite break from development to look after its employees’ wellbeing.

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“We’re going on hiatus for the foreseeable future. We haven’t been able to create a work environment that would not be destructive to our personal lives,” explained the developer via a post to X (spotted by a fan). Our families are our top priority and they should not be affected negatively by our work.”

2/5 After we release it, we're going on hiatus for the forseeable future. We haven't been able to create a work environment that would not be destructive to our personal lives. Our families are our top priority and they should not be affected negatively by our work.

— Acid Wizard Studio (@TheAcidWizard) August 7, 2023

Recently, Acid Wizard Studio was working on Soccer Kids, a tactical, turn-based sports game that had a playable alpha version in June. While players were positive towards the new project despite it being a significant departure from Darkwood, it was decided that it is in the team’s best interest to suspend all development for now.

“We have been talking to some amazing people who could make a sequel for Darkwood and continue working on Soccer Kids. So spread the word — if you’re a developer / publisher who’s interested in working on those IPs, hit us up!” continued Acid Wizard Studio.

The Polish developer previously described Darkwood to be the product of “[five] years of very hard work (with the last few being pretty much nonstop crunch)“. The team took a year off before coming up with a number of concepts for its new game, settling on Soccer Kids.

This isn’t intended to be interpreted as “bad news”, clarified Acid Wizard Studio, adding that the employees will reconvene in the future and its games will “live on” in the interim.

At the moment, the plan is that Darkwood will receive patch 1.4 and then the developer will shut down. Players are invited to assist the team on that front with beta testing.

In other gaming news, a new teaser trailer for Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was released, revealing Captain Price and Commander Graves.

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