John Smedley’s Independent Studio Is Closing Down

John Smedley, a legendary figure in the MMO industry for his work on EverQuest and other ground-breaking titles, today announced via Twitter that his independent development studio Pixelmage Games will be closing down, and development on Hero’s Song will cease. Following successful crowd-source funding and interest from several big investors Hero’s Song was able to reach Early Access but unfortunately the game was not able to reach predicted sales figures and is no longer viable.

Smedley said he was heartbroken to share the news, something that must be difficult to face this time of year.

Something nearly unheard of in this situation – Pixelmage games will be offering full refunds to all backers through Indiegogo and full refunds to everyone that purchase the game through Steam.

[quote cite=”The Hero’s Song Team “]Hello Hero’s Song Players,

It’s with a heavy heart that I have to report that Pixelmage Games is going to be shutting down and we have ceased development on Hero’s Song. For the last year, our team has worked tirelessly to make the game we’ve dreamed about making, and with your support, and the support of our investors, we were able to get the game into Early Access. Unfortunately sales fell short of what we needed to continue development. We knew going in that most startups don’t make it, and as an indie game studio we hoped we would be the exception to that rule, but as it turned out we weren’t.

We sincerely value our customers. You’re our most important focus and have been from day one. We’re going to offer 100% refunds to all of the people who bought Hero’s Song.

Thank you for all the support you showed us. We’re sorry things worked out the way they did, but we feel strongly that we gave it our all and we’re proud of how far we came with the game. The fact that we weren’t able to finish the game is painful, but the journey of making Hero’s Song has been a great experience for us and we’re just sorry we couldn’t take it all the way.

Thank You,[/quote]

For more information, including details on refunding through Steam and Indiegogo, check out the official website linked below.

Source: Official Website