Last Updated on March 28, 2024 by Ashish
The Unfortunate End of Spearhead Games’ Unforetold: Witchstone
A Difficult Decision
Spearhead Games, the Montreal-based developer, has announced the end of production for their recently launched game, Unforetold: Witchstone. The decision comes as a result of financial challenges faced by the studio, leading to the layoff of the majority of their staff.
Expressing Gratitude and Support
In their statement shared on LinkedIn, Spearhead Games expressed their heartfelt thanks to the developers who poured their passion and hard work into creating the game. They acknowledged the difficulty of the situation and assured their commitment to supporting the affected employees through various means, including personalized career coaching, emotional support, networking, and job placement assistance.
A Transition Period
As the studio navigates through this transition period, they have requested understanding and patience from their audience. The Unforetold: Witchstone Discord server will be shut down on March 8, marking the indefinite end of production for the game.
Spearhead Games’ History
Founded in 2011 by former Ubisoft and EA developers, Spearhead Games has previously released titles such as Tiny Brains, Omesight, and Stories: The Path of Destinies. The studio’s journey has now taken an unfortunate turn, but they remain hopeful of rebuilding and finding ways to move forward.
Key Dates and Actions
| Date | Action |
|---|---|
| January 4, 2024 | Unforetold: Witchstone launched |
| Past few weeks | Financial challenges arose |
| (Unspecified date) | Majority of staff laid off |
| March 8, 2024 | Production on Unforetold: Witchstone ends indefinitely |
| March 8, 2024 | Unforetold: Witchstone Discord server shuts down |
A Heartfelt Farewell
As Spearhead Games bids farewell to Unforetold: Witchstone and a significant portion of their team, the gaming community stands in solidarity with the affected developers. The studio’s commitment to supporting their employees during this difficult transition is commendable, and their transparency in communicating the situation is appreciated.
Transcript of LinkedIn Post:
AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM SPEARHEAD GAMES
It is with great sadness that we address you today regarding difficult decisions that we had to make concerning Unforetold: Witchstone. The past few weeks have been challenging, as the combined impact of financial prospects that did not materialize have put us in a difficult position.
Hence after careful consideration, we have come to the regrettable conclusion that we must stop further production on Unforetold:Witchstone indefinitely as of March 8th 2024, after the release of Hotfix #7.
It further saddens us that due to these financial circumstances, we have had to make the tough decision to lay off the majority of our team. These developers created worlds unseen from nothing but with sheer will and collective imagination – a testament to the heart and soul poured into this studio. We want to express our heartfelt thanks to them for their passion and hard work.
We also want to assure you that we are doing everything in our power to support everyone affected. We have hired companies to help with personalized career coaching, emotional support, networking, and job placement assistance.
We call on the games industry in Montreal and around: if you have space, give our incredibly talented people a chance and you will be amazed.
As we move forward, we ask for your understanding and patience as we navigate through this transition period and find ways to rebuild again. We will do our best to keep you updated on any developments. As such, our social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube accounts will remain as is. However, the Discord server will be shutting down as of March 8th 2024.
And finally, to our phenomenal team, our passionate players, and every single person who found a home in the universes we created in the last 12 years — a heartfelt thank you. So long, until we meet again.
Atul Mehra and Malik Boukhira, co-founders, SPEARHEAD
