Independent studio Housemarque have announced today that they will be moving away from the arcade genre that they have come to be known for after disappointing sales numbers on various games.
In a blog post titled “Arcade is Dead,” the studio described how their latest arcade title – Nex Machina – received fairly critical acclaim and was generally considered to be a very solid and enjoyable game. However, despite all of the success and review scores, the studio said the games “just haven’t sold in significant numbers.” It’s with that in mind that the studio has decided to move on to other genres and “move forward with the industry.”
You can check out more of the post below, and head over to their actual blog post to read the entire letter to the community:
But now it’s time to move on to new genres. Lackluster sales of Nex Machina have led us to the thinking that it is time to bring our longstanding commitment to the arcade genre to an end. While this genre will always hold a special place in our hearts, the industry is moving more toward multiplayer experiences with strong, robust communities, and it’s time for Housemarque to move forward with the industry. Hence Nex Machina and Matterfall will be the last of their kind coming out of our studio. Our purpose as a company remains the same, however – to create enjoyable and memorable gaming experiences for players while simultaneously creating a great workplace that allows people to flourish both professionally and personally.
Looking ahead to our next projects, we are exploring something totally different than what you might expect of us, but we believe this will lead to the creation of even more engaging gaming experiences. Our core values remain the same – gameplay first with first class execution. We are really excited about our new projects and look forward to unveiling our first game from the new era of Housemarque.
It’s sad to see any studio make a decision like this, but probably even more so when the games the studio were making were generally considered to be good. Sales are usually the end goal for most companies, though, and it’s at least comforting to know that Housemarque will continue to create games going forward.
[Source: Housemarque]
