"Earthblade Cancelled: Celeste Devs Cite Disagreements"

Earthblade, the eagerly anticipated game from the creators of the beloved indie game Celeste, has been officially cancelled due to internal conflicts within the development team. Dive deeper to understand the full story behind this cancellation.

Earthblade Is Officially Cancelled

Developers Cite Internal "Fracture"

The much-anticipated title, Earthblade, from the studio behind the indie sensation Celeste, has been officially cancelled amidst internal disagreements among team members.

Extremely OK Games (EXOK), the developers behind Earthblade, announced the cancellation on their official website in a post titled "Final Earthblade Update." EXOK Director Maddy Thorson shared the reasons for the cancellation and outlined their future plans.

"Late last month, Noel and I made the difficult decision to cancel Earthblade. Yes, we are starting the year with a huge, heartbreaking, yet relieving failure," Thorson stated, expressing her apologies to the fans who have been eagerly awaiting the game's release. She admitted that the team is still processing and grieving the outcome.

Thorson explained that a significant factor in the cancellation was a "fracture" that developed within the team, specifically between her, EXOK Computer Programmer Noel Berry, and former Art Director Pedro Medeiros. The conflict centered around a "disagreement about the IP rights of Celeste," which Thorson did not elaborate on further, citing the sensitivity of the issue.

Despite resolving their differences, Medeiros chose to part ways and is now working on his own game, Neverway, under a new studio. Thorson made it clear that there are no hard feelings, stating, "Pedro and the Neverway team aren't the enemy and anyone who treats them as such isn't welcome in any EXOK community."

"Losing Pedro wasn't the only factor in cancelling the game, but it did prompt us to take a serious look at whether fighting through to finish Earthblade was the right path forward," Thorson continued. She noted that while the project had potential, it was not as advanced as expected after such a long development period. The immense success of Celeste placed considerable pressure on the team to exceed their previous achievements, and Thorson admitted that "that pressure is a large part of why working on it has become so exhausting." She concluded that the team had lost its direction, and it was time to acknowledge the situation and move on.

EXOK’s Future Plans

With many team members having moved on, Thorson and Berry are looking to regroup and start anew, focusing on smaller-scale projects. They are currently in the prototyping phase, experimenting at their own pace, "trying to rediscover game development in a manner closer to how we approached it at Celeste's or TowerFall's inception." Thorson expressed hope for future collaborations with former team members and ended on an optimistic note, "We gave it all we've got, and life goes on. We are happy to return to our roots and reclaim some joy in our creative process, and see where that takes us."

Earthblade was envisioned as an "explor-action platformer" featuring the story of Névoa, the enigmatic child of Fate, who returns to a ruined Earth to piece together the remnants of the desolate planet.