I fully respect their decision. I was on an indie team a couple years ago and we were in development hell for about 3 years. Nobody on the team was passionate about the project anymore, development was slogging along, and no soul was left in the game. It got to a point where I thought the best move was to cancel the project and move on to a new one with a smaller scope. My team and I had a huge disagreement on this, destroying our friendship. They pushed on and released a half-baked project to no fanfare. I miss those guys and I think things would've been different and better if we realized the project wasn't working much sooner.
would have have been a really difficult decision to cancel The Newton Mystery since it was funded by Kickstarter and would would lose some trust with some people, but yeah sometimes you just need to know when to quit
something that cancelled projects show me is that it’s horrifyingly easy to forget that there are real people slaving their lives away to work on this kinda thing, i cannot even fathom how much pressure having a previously successful game would worsen that even further
The thing is most indie games are really successful especially a first game is like lightning in a bottle. They don’t have it in them to create something that great again and they will feel disappointment when the next thing isn’t as great.
"The pressure from Celeste made us want to create a game that was bigger and grander" this is why as a game developer it's always important to not let pressure get to you ofc every developer wants to make their fanbase happy, but what's most important is making sure YOU are happy with the game you're making this is incredibly disappointing 6 years of work down the drain I hope they can recover and make something they are truly passionate about saddest news of my entire life.
That's a bunch of bullshit The point is to NOT one-up their previous game, the point is to make Earthblade FUN and enjoyable for everyone Instead, they went with the same crappy ''AAA studio'' mentality of all game developers about making a bigger and better game than Celeste Earthblade wasn't even meant to be bigger than Celeste but I guess going with that mentality bit them in the ass hard and that sucks Both said crappy mentality as well as that trend chasing bullshit all devs are using are the reasons why the passion of making video games has dimmed out very quick over the last 30+ years You're no longer making games from the bottom of your own heart, you're pretty much becoming an assembly line making whatever you're told to with no freedom whatsoever
@@martinde-serres8724 You're making a lot of assumptions about a team you don't even know, EXOK is extremely passionate about Celeste. They did not have "crappy AAA studio mentality", they were an indie team that, after the success of Celeste, thought their audience would be disappointed if Earthblade wasn't better than Celeste. I know I would feel the exact same if something I made got really big, and it wouldn't be me "not making something from the bottom of my heart" and "becoming an assembly line" (whatever that even means), its just stress. I agree, they shouldn't have had that mentality. They plastered "from the creators of Celeste" ALL over the Steam page, so they definitely set themself up for failure in that regard. Earthblade should've been "the next EXOK game", not "the predecessor to Celeste". However, do I blame them having this mentality? No. I'm sure the team has realised this mistake, it sure seems so in that blog post. The EXOK team has been through a lot, but I still have faith in them that they'll make something great that was made with passion in their heart, and as Arlo said in the video, they have a LOT of courage for being able to cut their losses and abandon their work, and to focus on smaller projects. I also think your stance on "the passion of making video games has dimmed out very quick over the last 30+ years" is silly and untrue. Companies are the ones that make games soulless, not the developers. Nintendo, for example, has an employee retention rate of 98.8% in Japan (VERY high). The employees there genuinely enjoy their work and are treated well. Even though there are some rather disappointing and bad examples of their company (PKMN Scarlet/Violet for example), it is still VERY clear how much passion their developers put into the games.
Seems like a common trend for indie devs of breakout successes to struggle with their next game. Celeste, Hollow Knight, Stardew Valley, Undertale (Deltarune broken into chapters and releasing very slowly), Braid (the Witness took 8 years and the next game is taking 10+ years), Fez, etc.
If it's any concellation, NOTHING is EVER a waste of work. Sometimes you can take what you've made and re-purpose the ideas elsewhere, and if NOTHING else those are 6 years of experience you didn't have before, and NO ONE can take experience away from you.
Yeah I think climate change would take issue with that statement. Work is wasted so often, we don't publish everything openly so people spend trillions of hours doing things that have already been done. Calculations that accomplish nothing are poisoning our air, E-waste of unsold products are poisoning our land and our oceans are acidified by both. The only reason for all of this, is because there is a select few who think that all should have to earn basic human rights such as a meal and that no one would advance art or technologies without monopolistic incentives. Sadly not even independent studios are immune to this corrupt system. These problems run deep, all the way to the bottom and all the way to the top. All I want is freedom and all the elites want is destruction and control, I am constantly surprised by how often people go against their best interest, even now someone will likely... Well lets just hope not. I hope that all artists and developers unionise for fair pay and IP ownership gets abolished. Free culture!
I appreciate Arlo using the word armchair. Because fans have a nasty tendency to allow their excitement and devotion to bubble over into entitled delusion.
@@westinpeace1234 Silksong's management has been a mess compared to this. honestly, at this point the fanbase might be less angry if they did just claim to have cancelled Silksong (if nothing else it would stop the constant tension, and they could always just keep working on it in secret without the constant pressure anymore). playable Hornet was promised on the kickstarter, the people who funded that kickstarter (not me, and not most of the fanbase either for that matter) are kinda entitled to that much seeing as they already basically paid for it. if nothing else those people should probably get Silksong for free since, again, they did basically already pay for it as part of the kickstarter funding, and part of the promised rewards for that were getting the full game (at the higher tiers it even involved getting up to 9 extra copies), which should've included the promised playable Hornet that they did pay for by funding it. people that didn't fund the kickstarter (most of the fanbase, including myself) aren't entitled to get anything, but that doesn't make multiple years of radio silence followed up by a nasty prank an acceptable buisiness practice (I'm not even personally angry about Silksong or the prank itself, to be honest I just mentally think of Silksong as having silently been cancelled and it'll be a nice surprise if it's not. what does make me angry is the fact that I've seen dozens of people going around calling others entitled simply for being upset about the prank). as things are they clearly announced it far too early (though I acknowledge that this might be because of unforseen issues and delays), and the fans are mostly just frustrated with the lack of news (which is understandable seeing as they were told multiple times by multiple sources that it was coming soon, or within a year (most recently 2 years ago)). the recent big prank that one of them did on social media just made all of that bubbling tension blow up in their face (and while I am very understanding of the fact that game development is hard and can have unforseen setbacks, the joke was in bad taste and the social media guy that did it is getting no sympathy from me. they didn't even have the courage to publically admit the prank themself, instead just telling a content creator and leaving it up to them to drop the news (which feels like an intentional attempt to redirect the inevitable resulting anger towards that content creator)). it would've been better for all involved if they'd waited until they had a release date before doing the announcement, I don't understand why they announced it so early.
@ we only heard the truth about it from Fireb0rn and all that he said on the matter was "Leth has reached out to inform me that the cake was, indeed, a lie." ... "Apologies to have misled everyone". it was a very elaborate setup seemingly secifically made to get people hyped and theorizing with a bunch of seemingly unrelated things that all happened to link together. to then be told that it was all just a big lie makes it hard to believe that it could've been anything other than an intentional effort to mess with people. I think it probably started out as a somewhat mean-spirited joke (hopefully one purely done by their social media guy and not by the full team) where they just didn't quite realize how hyped people still were for their game, and the response got them to quickly realize that it was going to blow up in their faces (hence why they took the coward's way out by reaching out to Fireb0rn to announce on their behalf that it had just been a big lie). only other option I've heard that made any sense was that it was a real bit of news that accidentally violated an NDA, resulting in them needing to rapidly backpedal and deny all of it. I'll be honest, my view of NDA's is negative enough that this option feels equally scummy to me, if the news is already out they should just accept that and possibly confirm, they shouldn't lie to claim that the truth was them lying. the main issue with the NDA option is that I think they probably would've put more work into covering it up if it really had violated an NDA, they way they handled it meant that all the information is still out there but now everyone is also angry at them.
The most amazing thing with Celeste is that it really gives you sense of achievement of climbing a mountain. Before playing the game I was looking at the footages because around those days this game was the greatest thing ever. And I thought there is no way I could play this game. It looked impossible. But when I beat the game I couldn't believe myself. It was just amazing.
@@nina9565exactly and the modding community really pushes that progression to its limits, so there’s always something that’s hard enough to challenge you without being disheartening
I've climbed a 14er before, and this game gave me that same exact feeling. So I can at least say they did an amazing job replicating that feel, really was something special.
3:55 Thank you for highlighting the fact that there's no bad blood, despite the split. Now that this is starting to be covered by more general masses, my biggest concern is that people are getting the wrong impression about the split. Especially since both sides still hold each other in well regard, and they specifically requested that no one in the community hold gurdges against either side. Despite how sad the news may be, from what I read, this seems to be for the best for everyone involved in development. I'm optimistic that this will only lead to better things in the future.
Got really mad at Nintendo Life a day or two ago for only highlighting the IP dispute in their article, despite the quote they used SPECIFICALLY SAYING that wasn't the issue at all, like the blog post isn't even that long but you'll write more about the latest Switch 2 leak than a prominent indie dev canceling a highly anticipated game???
As an aspiring game developer this stings especially bad, if developers as competent as the celeste ones struggle to get a project off the ground then that paints a bad picture for the less experienced ones.
I feel like the more experienced a team gets with game production, if they get a smash hit, the more likely they are to end up in a development quagmire
I mean, there's plenty of AAA games with teams full of experienced developers and hefty budgets that run into issues that eventually lead to cancellation. Most indie games never even get announced let alone finished.
the scrutiny of blowing up seems to be just a bad thing as an indie. it's obviously good to have that passive income as a person but the more I see from what happened with silksong, the night in the woods devs, deltarune, and others from the late 2010s the more I think that the Balatro creator's idea of "my next game will be in a folder on my computer and nobody will play it" is just a really good call.
They definitely made the right call. It’s really easy to see a game that is successful and think “yeah, we should make something even bigger and better!” Eventually it’s no longer sustainable to strive higher, despite what some devs believe about themselves. I used to be the audio lead for a game development club at my university, and the same thing happened. After we made a project that was really huge, I tried to persuade the admins into making smaller games because of the mental strain it was causing a lot of our members. This was met with angry name-calling, including the N-word multiple times. I quit a few weeks ago to work on my own game with a smaller team that I trusted, and it’s the happiest I’ve been in a while. I hope EXOG finds their peace too, and I wholeheartedly respect their decision. I’m interested in the next thing they make, even if it’s just a $5 short game.
I can't even find out who has the copyrights; I think the best call would have been to say everyone gets it by making it public domain, if not for Celeste then at least for Earthblade. It would be a shame to have it just sit there in IP prison where no one is allowed to do anything with it and all that work was wasted with the only thing people gained being what they vaguely remember.
This has been extemely sad to me. Earthblade was top of my wishlist, just below Silksong. Celeste has been the most important game of my life, and I was very excited to see more from the team.
Fortunately for me I didn't even know this was in the works at all😅 It's a pity something couldn't be worked out though on the brightest side some experience was gained at least. Hopefully they can keep going and apply it to something greater
I'm not sure I buy the idea that Extremely OK was going to inevitably make a masterpiece. Games stand and fall on their own merit, not on the pedigree alone of who makes it. Shigeru Miyamoto made everything from Donkey Kong to Super Mario 64, he also executively produced Star Fox Zero and other games that are either divisive or dare I say, mediocre. Being creative is no guarantee that every idea that comes into your head is a banger.
There’s merit to that I suppose, but reputations exist for a reason. If somebody makes something you absolutely love and ticks all the right boxes, chances are high their next project will be similar and even if not will still have something in it that appeals to you. Everybody misses sometimes
Arlo's is drawing a conclusion based on evidence. You are contradicting it based on an unrelated incident. Nothing in life is guaranteed. Murphy's Law exists. People are flawed. That doesn't make failure the more likely outcome.
@@ethanhaynes7406sure, but those games were also developed with passion. they make it clear this game was unfortunately losing that for them. it's not hard to imagine that a project you're completing only for the sake of it would turn out lackluster, especially if the project was already severely behind schedule. i think it was the right call for everyone. something tells me if the team managed agreed itd be better to move on to another project, even after all the time spent on it, then the game really wasnt gonna turn out as well as we think it would have.
As someone with 6k+ hours in Celeste (mostly in mods) this is probably the most personally impactful cancellation I've heard of. But at the same time I really respect the team and I trust that this was the right decision. Even if it makes me sad
Night in The Woods' successor game got cancelled last year. Celeste's successor game is now cancelled... ... I'm scared of what's gonna happen to Hollow Knight Silksong now.
For what it’s worth, the NITW devs game was cancelled for a very different reason - one of the lead developers found out he has a major heart condition that needed to take priority. super understandable - even though i’ll mourn not being able to see Revenant Hill come out, i’m very glad Scott is focusing on his health.
Now that this has happened, I'm wondering if that is the case for Silksong unfortunately. It's been how many years with 0 updates or communication? Either Team Cherry just keeps adding new stuff to the game, or a huge roadblock hit them behind the scenes.
Ive pretty much accepted the fact that this game is either never coming out or when it does it won't be as good as hollow Knight because after kingdom hearts 3 I will never be disappointed waiting years for a game to come out ever again. Plus there is so many other rad metroidvania's to play so if I ever get that itch I am spoiled for choice.
Oh that's devastating. Anyone got a clip of Spider-man screaming "NOOOO" while helplessly grasping at vapor from the animated series? Because that's how I'm feeling right now
"Art suffering because of non-art stuff" reminded me of how 90s Super GP/Arcade Racer is STILL stuck unreleased ever since Nicalis was trusted with the rhe publishing rights since the intended development for the WII U (amongst other platforms) and it still hasn't seen the light of day even now that the Switch 2 is coming...
I didn't fall in love with Celeste like some others did, it absolutely is a really impressive game, and I'm saddened that this game got cancelled. I remember the reveal of earthblade making me quite excited
Same boat. I gave the game 2 attempts and could never even bring myself to beat it. The game really didn't click with me but I 100% understand the hype and passion around it and I was really excited to see a game more in line with my tastes being developed by the same devs
@CHeRRYPUNK-s7e oh I did beat it and enjoyed it plenty. But my personal enjoyment was more of a 8/10 than anything even close to a 10/10. But yeah, big shame that their next game didn't end up working out. I truly hope they'll come up with another concept and follow through
4:47 it makes sense to me honestly. From my experience as a dev (admittedly still an amateur one), the absolute hardest part of the process is actually taking the broken mess of a game you've been working on and actually polishing it up to the point where you feel comfortable sharing it with the masses. Even for small projects that's a massive amount of work to do, and so if they hadn't even begun doing it I can see why they would opt to cut their losses.
I'd argue that its not that devastating if Maddy herself stated that Earthblade just wasn't coming together. Better to start from scratch than release a dud, or never release a game. IP ownership conflicts, on the other hand, is devastating in my eyes because can they even lean back on making a Celeste 2 in light of a project not succeeding?!.
@ Ah, a language barrier! To "piss someone off" means to "annoy" them, but you made me chuckle. You'll get the hang of the English language soon, champ! 👍
eh honestly celeste really is a perfect game, i dont see a world where a sequel makes sense, chapter 9 was a great ending story line wise (and chapter 7) so id prefer new characters and well the gameplay is rock tight solid there is not much they could do without completely changing fundamental aspects of the game which would make it not seem like celeste anymore. its not like ori 1 and ori 2 where ori 1 had some clear flaws despite becing great and the sequel being perfection.
As a game dev myself, cutting anything from a game is incredibly difficult, so i cannot imagine how difficult it must be to make the decision to cut the whole game
I saw a tweet, like, “Celeste 2 was cancelled today” and I was like what? And I thought they were joking ‘cause Celeste 2 wasn’t in development (though, I did know EXOK was working on a new game) But like, still. This is really sad. :/
Kind of reminds me of when the Night in the Woods team fell apart. Will probably never get a sequel. Really liked that game, and was hoping for more...
Even without all that they probably learned a lot working on this, both just general game dev wise as well as how to avoid these situations in the future so I don't think it was a complete waste. Still sucks but at least there doesn't seem to be any controversy here
@@pokelily_7799 They handled it in the way most of those things should held: privately. This is why there's no controversy, there's nothing to misinterpreted/blow out of proportion by the public
@ I absolutely agree however a scroll through the comments here suggests that people are still finding ways to blow it out of proportion sadly. Such is the internet I guess
This hurts so much. I love Celsete. It's one of my favorite games, and I played it while I was going through a really rough time. Hopefully, we get to see more work from them in the future
This reminds me of when Revenant Hill, by the people that made Night in the Woods, was canceled. It's heartbreaking, but it's a reminder that artist never owe fans a new piece of art
This hits me just as strong as me finding out American Mcgee's Alice asylum got canceled. It's always a sad day for gaming when creative and passionate game creators are faced with hurdles they simply can't get over (and not to a fault with their abilities, just stuff not working out)
I hope the company, fans and themselves won't act harsh about this, their decision is completely valid, I hope they don't completely quit like how some devs ended up doing...
I didn't realise it had been announced that long ago. I wish everyone involved the best. I hope they all manage to move on to other projects. I do vaguely remember thinking Earthblade looked very ambitious compared to what they'd already made.
Was in a similar situation with Eclipse. 3 years of work on our mod but progress was slow. Our team just scaled back the scope, and locked in and we actueally managed. Can totally understanding of the decision to cancel. For a professionally made product I can only fathom the extra juggling compared to a mod.
I was waiting for this game. What a shame. Whatever the development team is facing right now, I hope everything foes well for them. I loved Celeste. If they think it was the right decision, I trust them.
i saw the thumbnail and shoutet "NOOOO" like propably the loudest i've ever done. EXOK are the goats, i have so many different feelings mixed up right now... :((
As sad as it is, if the cause of the cancellation is "we didn't want to work on it anymore," then it's pretty obvious they made the right decision. If you no longer want to work on something, it's not going to be a good product. And especially coming from the people that made one of my all-time favorite games, I'd rather play something they're proud of. If anything, I'm happy the cancellation wasn't outside of their control. It always sucks when the "higher ups" decide to pull the plug for no real reason.
Aw, man, I'm sorry to hear this news. I was definitely looking forward to Earthblade. It looked amazing from the trailer! Though, I can understand that in the game industry (or any media), there are times that things just don't work out for the project and it has to be canned. I'm still looking forward to seeing what this developer can come up with next! I hope this developer works things out internally and they get the right people in the right teams to create another amazing game!
Hearing this actually made me cry, like I love Celeste so much. I guess I am still hoping for a sequel, but Earthblade looked interesting. I just feel so bad for them, like just imagine taking years putting time into something and it just ends up as nothing. I guess they have an idea of how to probably not do this again.
Hope the best for the devs and fans like you and others, it is really sad to hear this for those working on it and those anticipating the game. I do hope they’ll find a new project to work on, when they figure something new out they want to bring to the world and have the artistic drive for the game, for that to go smoothly for them, and that they end up feeling it work out exactly how they would want!
Was audibly yelling "NOOOOOOOOO!!!!" multiple times as soon as I saw this in my sub feed. I was so excited for this game since its reveal and have been patiently waiting for news... but I guess not
Celeste is my favourite game of all time for so many reasons, and i was looking forward to earthblade. Whilst I am obviously disappointed, i have plenty of faith in this team. Whatever they work on next I’m sure will be amazing, and I’ll look forward to that!
honestly, I think it might be for the best if Team Cherry announces a cancellation to Silksong they don't need to actually stop making it, but it'll put an end to the constant stressing and tension building within the community and allow the devs to work without all that pressure weighing down on them then, once it's actually finished, they can re-announce it (with a release date to show that it's actually happening and actually soon this time) and then people will probably be happier than they are now
@ Hello fellow ember! I don't think it's actually possible for them to announce a cancellation, is the thing. Silksong began as a DLC reward for the original game where you could play as Hornet (and possibly some other side story too), and because people payed actual money for this in Kickstarter, they can't exactly go back on it without refunding anyone. And plus they've already made deals with Microsoft, showcased the game on Nintendo Treehouse... I don't think anyone will believe them, and they especially won't forget about Silksong. They would probably just harass the devs to release the "unfinished" builds of the game.
@ShimmeringVapidCoal fair enough I suppose, oftentimes it feels like a lot of things that I think are good ideas are kinda reliant on people and companies actually making sense. unfortunately they don't.
I think Silksong is too far along for that to happen. Leth openly said that he has played it from beginning to end and always says that the game got quite big. I don't think Earthblade was in a similar state.
Nooo :[. I still replay Celest a lot, I think I've played it like 7 times now, one of those was a 100% run. This is really sad to hear,ty for bringing light to it
Literally replaying Celeste right now because it’s such a good winter game. Probably in my top 5 2D platformers ever, so I was sooo excited for Earthblade. Biggest bummer of a cancellation I’ve heard in a while.
A lot of people especially artists and developers need to learn this. The FIRST thing you should do after beginning a project is figure out its scope, its required features, how long it’ll take to develop and whether you can finance it. I’ve heard so many stories of people who spend years working on something that they just weren’t ready for. The Sunk Cost Fallacy should always be in your mind when working on a project - do not continue working on something that fundamentally doesn’t work even if you’ve spent years of your life getting it to this point, because you might spend years of your life trying to complete it when your mind has realistically moved elsewhere. This sounds really horrible at first, but you should try to balance work you do at your job with smaller personal projects, and then if you want, a larger project alongside those. At least if that larger project goes wrong, you’ve got plenty of stuff done from those smaller projects that you could learn from and figure out what works.
Shit. Celeste is an incredible good game, from the mechanics to the narrative to the pieces it touches inside you. I will always remember it as i was playing it while my grandma died (i was working far away and i couldn't attend the funeral, so this game helped me to go through it). But if the studio has such problems inside, probably this is for the best.
Really sad that this happened, this really was one of my most anticipated games ever since it got announced (it was announced 2022, he said it was 2021 in the video by mistake) and I hope for the best on whatever the devs do next Also I sure do hope Silksong doesn't meet the same fate, at this point I'm glad that "no news" isn't "yes news, but it's a cancellation"
Always make sure you're happy with your finished product, scope is important to manage as well, and you still have to meet fan expectations, but not always the way they think.
Pain. Ive been looking forward to Earthblade since I played Celeste. This game profoundly impacted me. At the end of the day, I respect their decision to cancel and hope the EXOK team is able to come together and rediscover the passion that made Celeste so special
If the team's not feeling it then there's very little to be disappointed about. It wouldnt probably go anywhere or ve as good as it could be. Its really when projects are killed for business and financial reasons that I get upset. Nowadays I try to not focus on release windows and just let things come out to check them out
This is a tragedy, and I feel terrible that Earthblade won't get to be a thing. That being said, if the devs truly felt that things just weren't coming together in the way they wanted, and they felt that splitting off, (albeit amicably), was the best choice to do, then I respect that. Maddy and Lena and the rest of those who worked on Celeste will always be regarded highly in my opinion, and whatever they do next, I look forward to greatly! If it weren't for the EXOK team and Celeste, I never would have found out who I truly am, after all!!! So, here's to you, the dev team at EXOK!!!! Thanks for helpting this silly girl believe in herself and feel like she can scale any mountain that life places in front of her!
Im incredibly sad to hear this news as well. Celeste is a primary inspiration for my own game, LUCID. So much so that ive been calling it a "Celestoidvania"😅 I was really looking forward to see how the team was going to tackle the concept.. I hope the best for the team, and that they know their work has inspired many devs like myself, and will try to do the concept justice!❤
God… I saw the thumbnail and I immediately wanted to cry. These guys do not deserve things like this. IP disputes shouldn’t kill projects like this that were so promising. I hope they can get something out of this and make something great again.
Celeste and BotW were amazing games to have for Switch. On the TV or in handheld, they just made the system feel magical. They were my first 2 Switch games...and even though I have a gaming PC with a huge backlog... I only played my Switch until I beat both these games.
I remember hearing in an interview, can’t remember who’s or when but I remember hearing a game developer said that at least to him each game felt like his own child that you know you watched grow and nurture and become this amazing thing. And so it can never be easy to admit this is not working and we have to move onto something elsebecause like in some regard is almost like giving up on a kid we were like I could see where this could turn out good but it’s just not working and it’s gotta be devastating for the developers.
Ouch, this one really hurts. I was so hyped when they revealed the game with a simple panning image and music, and then being even more hyped with the gameplay trailer a couple years ago. They seemed to be pretty far into development, so I wished we at least got some version of the game. Nevertheless, I hope what ever the group does next, as a group or splitting off, I wish them success and stability in these chaotic times.
This recent era of gold star standard indie games seems to all be one hit wonders. Even the ones that have released sequels or follow ups just aren’t achieving the same pace they shot out of the gate with. Here is a lesson we all overlooked from the NES and early game developers. Releasing one hit game is amazing, but releasing good sequels is the real test. Consistency and longevity are both incredibly hard to achieve and maintain.
The main appeal of games from smaller developers is the more unique ideas, a sequel just isn't unique and yet making something completely different from your previous game can be a high risk because it is just a gamble as to whether or not it will be popular.
@elio7610 You don't really NEED sequels as an indie. Indies focus on making their one niche, the BEST, and then move on to a different one. For example, Tour de Pizza has moved on to WOON instead of trying to top the Noise Update with a second Pizza Tower. Crosscode is being followed up by RadicalFishGames with a different top-down game idea, which is similar, but not the same IP.
While obviously this is never the update anyone wants to hear, I am very thankful that the team didn’t need to tie themselves to an unfulfilling project. Whatever the future holds, I’m no less excited by this team. Wishing them the best
Nothing has released that has makes Celeste feel less incredible than it is. Following that up was always something they'd struggle with. Same deal with the Hollow knight team.
I didn't know they were developing it but Celeste is one of my favorite games I have played too 😢 that is unfortunate for the cancellation of the studio's next game
I heard they were making a new game a while back and was excited. It sucks that it's cancelled. I hope that maybe one day, they'll release something else. Celeste was such an amazing game! It was difficult and frustrating, but getting past the difficulties was so satisfying and the story really resonated with me in a way that few games have. I wish the team well though. They said on the website that they're going to work on smaller projects and that the person who split from the team is working on another game.
As someone who's been hyped since it was announced, and was legit having it as my #1 most anticipated title since. This news really blows. But as someone who's working in the same field, it's sort of a realistic thing that happens a lot. Even to teams we consider the best. So many factors can get in the way of a vision, and even then a vision might not turn out the way those who held it expected. So while I'm super bummed and now like I don't really have any anticipated games anymore, I understand their decision and respect it.
If I knew of this before it was canceled, I'd've been hyped for it. The Celeste team making a game in my favorite genre... It sucks that it was canceled, but it's really common for some of the best games to have more strained teams who've argued about design decisions & ownership because of how much everyone involved is putting their *passion* into the work. It's not surprising, and it's even harder for the devs than it is for the consumers. I wish them the best on their next game. If this happened to Silksong at this point, I'd bet there'd be pitchforks...
![[TAS] Celeste Any% in 21:23.330](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/pG7vh7ENYSk/mqdefault.jpg)
I fully respect their decision. I was on an indie team a couple years ago and we were in development hell for about 3 years. Nobody on the team was passionate about the project anymore, development was slogging along, and no soul was left in the game. It got to a point where I thought the best move was to cancel the project and move on to a new one with a smaller scope. My team and I had a huge disagreement on this, destroying our friendship. They pushed on and released a half-baked project to no fanfare. I miss those guys and I think things would've been different and better if we realized the project wasn't working much sooner.
Whats the game in question? I'm sorry that happened to you for so long
Out of curiosity, what was the game called?
@ The Newton Mystery
would have have been a really difficult decision to cancel The Newton Mystery since it was funded by Kickstarter and would would lose some trust with some people, but yeah sometimes you just need to know when to quit
TBH, one of the hardest things to do is to know when to pull the plug. You're a wiser man than I'd be.
something that cancelled projects show me is that it’s horrifyingly easy to forget that there are real people slaving their lives away to work on this kinda thing, i cannot even fathom how much pressure having a previously successful game would worsen that even further
The thing is most indie games are really successful especially a first game is like lightning in a bottle. They don’t have it in them to create something that great again and they will feel disappointment when the next thing isn’t as great.
"The pressure from Celeste made us want to create a game that was bigger and grander" this is why as a game developer it's always important to not let pressure get to you ofc every developer wants to make their fanbase happy, but what's most important is making sure YOU are happy with the game you're making this is incredibly disappointing 6 years of work down the drain I hope they can recover and make something they are truly passionate about saddest news of my entire life.
That's a bunch of bullshit
The point is to NOT one-up their previous game, the point is to make Earthblade FUN and enjoyable for everyone
Instead, they went with the same crappy ''AAA studio'' mentality of all game developers about making a bigger and better game than Celeste
Earthblade wasn't even meant to be bigger than Celeste but I guess going with that mentality bit them in the ass hard and that sucks
Both said crappy mentality as well as that trend chasing bullshit all devs are using are the reasons why the passion of making video games has dimmed out very quick over the last 30+ years
You're no longer making games from the bottom of your own heart, you're pretty much becoming an assembly line making whatever you're told to with no freedom whatsoever
@@martinde-serres8724 You're making a lot of assumptions about a team you don't even know, EXOK is extremely passionate about Celeste. They did not have "crappy AAA studio mentality", they were an indie team that, after the success of Celeste, thought their audience would be disappointed if Earthblade wasn't better than Celeste. I know I would feel the exact same if something I made got really big, and it wouldn't be me "not making something from the bottom of my heart" and "becoming an assembly line" (whatever that even means), its just stress.
I agree, they shouldn't have had that mentality. They plastered "from the creators of Celeste" ALL over the Steam page, so they definitely set themself up for failure in that regard. Earthblade should've been "the next EXOK game", not "the predecessor to Celeste". However, do I blame them having this mentality? No.
I'm sure the team has realised this mistake, it sure seems so in that blog post. The EXOK team has been through a lot, but I still have faith in them that they'll make something great that was made with passion in their heart, and as Arlo said in the video, they have a LOT of courage for being able to cut their losses and abandon their work, and to focus on smaller projects.
I also think your stance on "the passion of making video games has dimmed out very quick over the last 30+ years" is silly and untrue. Companies are the ones that make games soulless, not the developers. Nintendo, for example, has an employee retention rate of 98.8% in Japan (VERY high). The employees there genuinely enjoy their work and are treated well. Even though there are some rather disappointing and bad examples of their company (PKMN Scarlet/Violet for example), it is still VERY clear how much passion their developers put into the games.
yeah nah that's bullshit lol, what's most important is absolutely making the fans happy. the devs being happy doesn't sell copies.
@@arosbastion7052 you guys are fuckin crazy
Seems like a common trend for indie devs of breakout successes to struggle with their next game. Celeste, Hollow Knight, Stardew Valley, Undertale (Deltarune broken into chapters and releasing very slowly), Braid (the Witness took 8 years and the next game is taking 10+ years), Fez, etc.
Sony cancels 8 live service titles: I sleep
Celeste Dev cancels game: Aw, poop. That sucks
If it's any concellation, NOTHING is EVER a waste of work. Sometimes you can take what you've made and re-purpose the ideas elsewhere, and if NOTHING else those are 6 years of experience you didn't have before, and NO ONE can take experience away from you.
*consolation btw :)
True, people also learn from their failures often way more than from their success.
@ I had a feeling it was wrong.
Well said!!
Yeah I think climate change would take issue with that statement. Work is wasted so often, we don't publish everything openly so people spend trillions of hours doing things that have already been done. Calculations that accomplish nothing are poisoning our air, E-waste of unsold products are poisoning our land and our oceans are acidified by both.
The only reason for all of this, is because there is a select few who think that all should have to earn basic human rights such as a meal and that no one would advance art or technologies without monopolistic incentives.
Sadly not even independent studios are immune to this corrupt system. These problems run deep, all the way to the bottom and all the way to the top. All I want is freedom and all the elites want is destruction and control, I am constantly surprised by how often people go against their best interest, even now someone will likely... Well lets just hope not. I hope that all artists and developers unionise for fair pay and IP ownership gets abolished.
Free culture!
I appreciate Arlo using the word armchair. Because fans have a nasty tendency to allow their excitement and devotion to bubble over into entitled delusion.
Cough cough silksong
@@westinpeace1234 Silksong's management has been a mess compared to this.
honestly, at this point the fanbase might be less angry if they did just claim to have cancelled Silksong (if nothing else it would stop the constant tension, and they could always just keep working on it in secret without the constant pressure anymore).
playable Hornet was promised on the kickstarter, the people who funded that kickstarter (not me, and not most of the fanbase either for that matter) are kinda entitled to that much seeing as they already basically paid for it. if nothing else those people should probably get Silksong for free since, again, they did basically already pay for it as part of the kickstarter funding, and part of the promised rewards for that were getting the full game (at the higher tiers it even involved getting up to 9 extra copies), which should've included the promised playable Hornet that they did pay for by funding it.
people that didn't fund the kickstarter (most of the fanbase, including myself) aren't entitled to get anything, but that doesn't make multiple years of radio silence followed up by a nasty prank an acceptable buisiness practice (I'm not even personally angry about Silksong or the prank itself, to be honest I just mentally think of Silksong as having silently been cancelled and it'll be a nice surprise if it's not. what does make me angry is the fact that I've seen dozens of people going around calling others entitled simply for being upset about the prank).
as things are they clearly announced it far too early (though I acknowledge that this might be because of unforseen issues and delays), and the fans are mostly just frustrated with the lack of news (which is understandable seeing as they were told multiple times by multiple sources that it was coming soon, or within a year (most recently 2 years ago)). the recent big prank that one of them did on social media just made all of that bubbling tension blow up in their face (and while I am very understanding of the fact that game development is hard and can have unforseen setbacks, the joke was in bad taste and the social media guy that did it is getting no sympathy from me. they didn't even have the courage to publically admit the prank themself, instead just telling a content creator and leaving it up to them to drop the news (which feels like an intentional attempt to redirect the inevitable resulting anger towards that content creator)).
it would've been better for all involved if they'd waited until they had a release date before doing the announcement, I don't understand why they announced it so early.
@@Eclipsed_Embers is it confirmed they were even trying to mess with fans?
@ we only heard the truth about it from Fireb0rn and all that he said on the matter was "Leth has reached out to inform me that the cake was, indeed, a lie." ... "Apologies to have misled everyone".
it was a very elaborate setup seemingly secifically made to get people hyped and theorizing with a bunch of seemingly unrelated things that all happened to link together. to then be told that it was all just a big lie makes it hard to believe that it could've been anything other than an intentional effort to mess with people.
I think it probably started out as a somewhat mean-spirited joke (hopefully one purely done by their social media guy and not by the full team) where they just didn't quite realize how hyped people still were for their game, and the response got them to quickly realize that it was going to blow up in their faces (hence why they took the coward's way out by reaching out to Fireb0rn to announce on their behalf that it had just been a big lie).
only other option I've heard that made any sense was that it was a real bit of news that accidentally violated an NDA, resulting in them needing to rapidly backpedal and deny all of it. I'll be honest, my view of NDA's is negative enough that this option feels equally scummy to me, if the news is already out they should just accept that and possibly confirm, they shouldn't lie to claim that the truth was them lying. the main issue with the NDA option is that I think they probably would've put more work into covering it up if it really had violated an NDA, they way they handled it meant that all the information is still out there but now everyone is also angry at them.
@@Eclipsed_Embers Cough cough silksong
This hurts more than all 8 of Sony's cancelled live service games combined
in that it hurts *at all*
What hurts about any of the live service games?
@@kibousn1686
Mostly that those studios will not be releasing anything anytime soon
I mean the great web looked pretty good
rip factions
The most amazing thing with Celeste is that it really gives you sense of achievement of climbing a mountain.
Before playing the game I was looking at the footages because around those days this game was the greatest thing ever. And I thought there is no way I could play this game. It looked impossible. But when I beat the game I couldn't believe myself. It was just amazing.
Celeste shows you in a very tangible way how your skills develop incrementally if you stick to practicing them.
Celeste really makes you FEEL like a mountain.
@@nina9565exactly and the modding community really pushes that progression to its limits, so there’s always something that’s hard enough to challenge you without being disheartening
I've climbed a 14er before, and this game gave me that same exact feeling. So I can at least say they did an amazing job replicating that feel, really was something special.
In my brain beating Chapter 9 has to be one of my greatest gaming achievements of my life.
3:55
Thank you for highlighting the fact that there's no bad blood, despite the split.
Now that this is starting to be covered by more general masses, my biggest concern is that people are getting the wrong impression about the split. Especially since both sides still hold each other in well regard, and they specifically requested that no one in the community hold gurdges against either side.
Despite how sad the news may be, from what I read, this seems to be for the best for everyone involved in development. I'm optimistic that this will only lead to better things in the future.
Got really mad at Nintendo Life a day or two ago for only highlighting the IP dispute in their article, despite the quote they used SPECIFICALLY SAYING that wasn't the issue at all, like the blog post isn't even that long but you'll write more about the latest Switch 2 leak than a prominent indie dev canceling a highly anticipated game???
As an aspiring game developer this stings especially bad, if developers as competent as the celeste ones struggle to get a project off the ground then that paints a bad picture for the less experienced ones.
It was a personal dispute and falling out of the team behind the scenes.
I feel like the more experienced a team gets with game production, if they get a smash hit, the more likely they are to end up in a development quagmire
@@robinnewhouse1563that wasn't the main issue and it ended on good terms
I mean, there's plenty of AAA games with teams full of experienced developers and hefty budgets that run into issues that eventually lead to cancellation. Most indie games never even get announced let alone finished.
@@robinnewhouse1563no, that wasn't the reason for the cancellation and everything ended on good terms there
the scrutiny of blowing up seems to be just a bad thing as an indie. it's obviously good to have that passive income as a person but the more I see from what happened with silksong, the night in the woods devs, deltarune, and others from the late 2010s the more I think that the Balatro creator's idea of "my next game will be in a folder on my computer and nobody will play it" is just a really good call.
oh and haunted choclatier
I dunno about the others, but silksong doesn't apply here
What's wrong with deltarune and the night in the woods devs
It kinda does toh? Do you think that it's not out by choice? It's for sure run into some form of development hell@@natalimoina
@@jonathanredacted3245 that their probably taking forever to release
They definitely made the right call. It’s really easy to see a game that is successful and think “yeah, we should make something even bigger and better!” Eventually it’s no longer sustainable to strive higher, despite what some devs believe about themselves.
I used to be the audio lead for a game development club at my university, and the same thing happened. After we made a project that was really huge, I tried to persuade the admins into making smaller games because of the mental strain it was causing a lot of our members. This was met with angry name-calling, including the N-word multiple times. I quit a few weeks ago to work on my own game with a smaller team that I trusted, and it’s the happiest I’ve been in a while.
I hope EXOG finds their peace too, and I wholeheartedly respect their decision. I’m interested in the next thing they make, even if it’s just a $5 short game.
I can't even find out who has the copyrights; I think the best call would have been to say everyone gets it by making it public domain, if not for Celeste then at least for Earthblade. It would be a shame to have it just sit there in IP prison where no one is allowed to do anything with it and all that work was wasted with the only thing people gained being what they vaguely remember.
A real shame, looking to see what they do next
To be honest it's kind of a relief that it ended on decent terms, rather than there being some huge drama or controversy.
This has been extemely sad to me. Earthblade was top of my wishlist, just below Silksong. Celeste has been the most important game of my life, and I was very excited to see more from the team.
Speaking of games in development hell…
The devs couldn't compromise on how many spikes and endless pits they should add to the game.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
@@squiddu
,ඞ
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
Earthblade, where every jump is a spike jump.
Hear me out; saw blades.
Fortunately for me I didn't even know this was in the works at all😅
It's a pity something couldn't be worked out though on the brightest side some experience was gained at least. Hopefully they can keep going and apply it to something greater
same here, I learned about the sequel in the same tweet that talked about the Cancellation.
I'm not sure I buy the idea that Extremely OK was going to inevitably make a masterpiece. Games stand and fall on their own merit, not on the pedigree alone of who makes it.
Shigeru Miyamoto made everything from Donkey Kong to Super Mario 64, he also executively produced Star Fox Zero and other games that are either divisive or dare I say, mediocre.
Being creative is no guarantee that every idea that comes into your head is a banger.
I agree that it's no guarantee. But now, we'll never know.
There’s merit to that I suppose, but reputations exist for a reason. If somebody makes something you absolutely love and ticks all the right boxes, chances are high their next project will be similar and even if not will still have something in it that appeals to you. Everybody misses sometimes
Arlo's is drawing a conclusion based on evidence. You are contradicting it based on an unrelated incident.
Nothing in life is guaranteed. Murphy's Law exists. People are flawed. That doesn't make failure the more likely outcome.
Both of there previous games, Celeste and Towerfall, were amazing. There's no reason to not assume the next one would be a fun experience
@@ethanhaynes7406sure, but those games were also developed with passion. they make it clear this game was unfortunately losing that for them. it's not hard to imagine that a project you're completing only for the sake of it would turn out lackluster, especially if the project was already severely behind schedule. i think it was the right call for everyone. something tells me if the team managed agreed itd be better to move on to another project, even after all the time spent on it, then the game really wasnt gonna turn out as well as we think it would have.
As someone with 6k+ hours in Celeste (mostly in mods) this is probably the most personally impactful cancellation I've heard of. But at the same time I really respect the team and I trust that this was the right decision. Even if it makes me sad
Night in The Woods' successor game got cancelled last year.
Celeste's successor game is now cancelled...
... I'm scared of what's gonna happen to Hollow Knight Silksong now.
at the very least, both devs will still work on making new projects at some point
this is sad, but atleast they’ll grow from these experiences.
For what it’s worth, the NITW devs game was cancelled for a very different reason - one of the lead developers found out he has a major heart condition that needed to take priority. super understandable - even though i’ll mourn not being able to see Revenant Hill come out, i’m very glad Scott is focusing on his health.
Absolutely devastating is right. This WAS my silksong.
I dread the prospect of this happening to Silksong...
Now that this has happened, I'm wondering if that is the case for Silksong unfortunately. It's been how many years with 0 updates or communication?
Either Team Cherry just keeps adding new stuff to the game, or a huge roadblock hit them behind the scenes.
Ive pretty much accepted the fact that this game is either never coming out or when it does it won't be as good as hollow Knight because after kingdom hearts 3 I will never be disappointed waiting years for a game to come out ever again. Plus there is so many other rad metroidvania's to play so if I ever get that itch I am spoiled for choice.
It already has, sadly. They announced it was cancelled a few hours ago. :(
@@seajay632 source?
@@Spectral_Waves trolling
Oh that's devastating. Anyone got a clip of Spider-man screaming "NOOOO" while helplessly grasping at vapor from the animated series? Because that's how I'm feeling right now
"Art suffering because of non-art stuff" reminded me of how 90s Super GP/Arcade Racer is STILL stuck unreleased ever since Nicalis was trusted with the rhe publishing rights since the intended development for the WII U (amongst other platforms) and it still hasn't seen the light of day even now that the Switch 2 is coming...
I didn't fall in love with Celeste like some others did, it absolutely is a really impressive game, and I'm saddened that this game got cancelled. I remember the reveal of earthblade making me quite excited
Celeste is mid, no cap frfr
@@byzantineroman2407 Oh, shut up, contrarian.
Same boat. I gave the game 2 attempts and could never even bring myself to beat it. The game really didn't click with me but I 100% understand the hype and passion around it and I was really excited to see a game more in line with my tastes being developed by the same devs
@CHeRRYPUNK-s7e oh I did beat it and enjoyed it plenty. But my personal enjoyment was more of a 8/10 than anything even close to a 10/10. But yeah, big shame that their next game didn't end up working out. I truly hope they'll come up with another concept and follow through
@@byzantineroman2407a hat in time is way better anyways
Thank you, Arlo.
This has not been brought up nearly as much as it should.
4:47 it makes sense to me honestly. From my experience as a dev (admittedly still an amateur one), the absolute hardest part of the process is actually taking the broken mess of a game you've been working on and actually polishing it up to the point where you feel comfortable sharing it with the masses. Even for small projects that's a massive amount of work to do, and so if they hadn't even begun doing it I can see why they would opt to cut their losses.
Hey arlo - can you list where you get your sources in the description?
It was said by the developers specifically on their website/was posted on Bluesky
Kinda irrelevant don't you think
@@lumpylumpylooit's good practice to regularly provide sources for what you claim or present.
@@robinnewhouse1563 wrong
Agreed. Source citing is good practice.
I'd argue that its not that devastating if Maddy herself stated that Earthblade just wasn't coming together. Better to start from scratch than release a dud, or never release a game. IP ownership conflicts, on the other hand, is devastating in my eyes because can they even lean back on making a Celeste 2 in light of a project not succeeding?!.
@@nickmenza8813 Ay would you mind not being so funny
@@The_Endless_Now see how easy it is to piss you off?
@ Ah, a language barrier! To "piss someone off" means to "annoy" them, but you made me chuckle. You'll get the hang of the English language soon, champ! 👍
eh honestly celeste really is a perfect game, i dont see a world where a sequel makes sense, chapter 9 was a great ending story line wise (and chapter 7) so id prefer new characters and well the gameplay is rock tight solid there is not much they could do without completely changing fundamental aspects of the game which would make it not seem like celeste anymore. its not like ori 1 and ori 2 where ori 1 had some clear flaws despite becing great and the sequel being perfection.
As a game dev myself, cutting anything from a game is incredibly difficult, so i cannot imagine how difficult it must be to make the decision to cut the whole game
I’m not a fan of Celeste personally but that’s sad to hear. I feel sorry for people who were waiting for it
You will be
@@noelvalenzarrothats too ominous man
I guess the blade has truly been buried in the earth 😔😔😔
I saw a tweet, like, “Celeste 2 was cancelled today” and I was like what? And I thought they were joking ‘cause Celeste 2 wasn’t in development (though, I did know EXOK was working on a new game)
But like, still. This is really sad. :/
we do have Celeste ‘Classic’ 2 technically, which is an official pico 8 sequel and has really fun mechanics! rather short tho ofc
I saw the title and thumbnail and my soul was immediately crushed.
Kind of reminds me of when the Night in the Woods team fell apart. Will probably never get a sequel. Really liked that game, and was hoping for more...
that sucks, but at the very least, the game has a pretty good ending on its own.
0:33 Passing up the strawberry here, hurt my soul 😣
Ngl i didnt even see it till i saw your comment and had to do a double take
Surely they can reuse art, code and mechanics on another game, right? The real tragedy would be having all of that gone to waste
Even without all that they probably learned a lot working on this, both just general game dev wise as well as how to avoid these situations in the future so I don't think it was a complete waste. Still sucks but at least there doesn't seem to be any controversy here
@@pokelily_7799 They handled it in the way most of those things should held: privately. This is why there's no controversy, there's nothing to misinterpreted/blow out of proportion by the public
@ I absolutely agree however a scroll through the comments here suggests that people are still finding ways to blow it out of proportion sadly. Such is the internet I guess
This hurts so much. I love Celsete. It's one of my favorite games, and I played it while I was going through a really rough time. Hopefully, we get to see more work from them in the future
This reminds me of when Revenant Hill, by the people that made Night in the Woods, was canceled.
It's heartbreaking, but it's a reminder that artist never owe fans a new piece of art
This hits me just as strong as me finding out American Mcgee's Alice asylum got canceled. It's always a sad day for gaming when creative and passionate game creators are faced with hurdles they simply can't get over (and not to a fault with their abilities, just stuff not working out)
I thought the third game was being worked on though? Just not without EA.
Seems to be a fan making the game actually
Yeah, I was on American’s Patreon, that post hit me like a truck, made me cry.
Really hurts to see this happening to a Canadian dev team. I really hope they can regain their footing after this.
I hope the company, fans and themselves won't act harsh about this, their decision is completely valid, I hope they don't completely quit like how some devs ended up doing...
I didn't realise it had been announced that long ago. I wish everyone involved the best. I hope they all manage to move on to other projects.
I do vaguely remember thinking Earthblade looked very ambitious compared to what they'd already made.
Was in a similar situation with Eclipse. 3 years of work on our mod but progress was slow. Our team just scaled back the scope, and locked in and we actueally managed. Can totally understanding of the decision to cancel. For a professionally made product I can only fathom the extra juggling compared to a mod.
I was waiting for this game. What a shame. Whatever the development team is facing right now, I hope everything foes well for them. I loved Celeste. If they think it was the right decision, I trust them.
it makes sense that a team that made a game about knowing when to quit, knew when to quit
i saw the thumbnail and shoutet "NOOOO" like propably the loudest i've ever done.
EXOK are the goats, i have so many different feelings mixed up right now... :((
As sad as it is, if the cause of the cancellation is "we didn't want to work on it anymore," then it's pretty obvious they made the right decision. If you no longer want to work on something, it's not going to be a good product.
And especially coming from the people that made one of my all-time favorite games, I'd rather play something they're proud of. If anything, I'm happy the cancellation wasn't outside of their control. It always sucks when the "higher ups" decide to pull the plug for no real reason.
Aw, man, I'm sorry to hear this news. I was definitely looking forward to Earthblade. It looked amazing from the trailer! Though, I can understand that in the game industry (or any media), there are times that things just don't work out for the project and it has to be canned. I'm still looking forward to seeing what this developer can come up with next! I hope this developer works things out internally and they get the right people in the right teams to create another amazing game!
Hearing this actually made me cry, like I love Celeste so much. I guess I am still hoping for a sequel, but Earthblade looked interesting. I just feel so bad for them, like just imagine taking years putting time into something and it just ends up as nothing. I guess they have an idea of how to probably not do this again.
if you want a sequel to celeste, you can take a look into the modding side of things, particularly Strawberry Jam
@ Yeah, I’ve been playing that. I need to get back to playing it though.
Today: Earthblade
Tomorrow: Silksong ☠
atleast then people would get some news about the game
Hope the best for the devs and fans like you and others, it is really sad to hear this for those working on it and those anticipating the game. I do hope they’ll find a new project to work on, when they figure something new out they want to bring to the world and have the artistic drive for the game, for that to go smoothly for them, and that they end up feeling it work out exactly how they would want!
I trust that if they think it wasn't gonna work, then it really wasn't
Was audibly yelling "NOOOOOOOOO!!!!" multiple times as soon as I saw this in my sub feed.
I was so excited for this game since its reveal and have been patiently waiting for news... but I guess not
when i saw the notification my first thought was "finally we can let go of SilkSong" 😂
Tomorrow for SURE
*sad 📣 SKONG noises*
You haven’t let go yet???
Will come surely
Silksong will arrive any day now lol
As a really big celeste, hollow knight and general pixel games fan, THANK GOD no one ever told me about this game, ignorance truly is bliss 🙏
“I was willing to wait,” “I will wait as long as I need to,” lol, what’s the alternative Arlo, dropping dead?
Celeste is my favourite game of all time for so many reasons, and i was looking forward to earthblade. Whilst I am obviously disappointed, i have plenty of faith in this team. Whatever they work on next I’m sure will be amazing, and I’ll look forward to that!
If this happens with Silksong the world is going to implode.
honestly, I think it might be for the best if Team Cherry announces a cancellation to Silksong
they don't need to actually stop making it, but it'll put an end to the constant stressing and tension building within the community and allow the devs to work without all that pressure weighing down on them
then, once it's actually finished, they can re-announce it (with a release date to show that it's actually happening and actually soon this time) and then people will probably be happier than they are now
@ Hello fellow ember!
I don't think it's actually possible for them to announce a cancellation, is the thing. Silksong began as a DLC reward for the original game where you could play as Hornet (and possibly some other side story too), and because people payed actual money for this in Kickstarter, they can't exactly go back on it without refunding anyone. And plus they've already made deals with Microsoft, showcased the game on Nintendo Treehouse... I don't think anyone will believe them, and they especially won't forget about Silksong. They would probably just harass the devs to release the "unfinished" builds of the game.
@ShimmeringVapidCoal fair enough I suppose, oftentimes it feels like a lot of things that I think are good ideas are kinda reliant on people and companies actually making sense. unfortunately they don't.
I think Silksong is too far along for that to happen. Leth openly said that he has played it from beginning to end and always says that the game got quite big. I don't think Earthblade was in a similar state.
very unfortunate, i hope the developers are doing well tho and might come back a future project similar to it
When I saw this I actually almost cried ngl, This was a Silksong level type of game for me
Nooo :[. I still replay Celest a lot, I think I've played it like 7 times now, one of those was a 100% run. This is really sad to hear,ty for bringing light to it
Literally replaying Celeste right now because it’s such a good winter game. Probably in my top 5 2D platformers ever, so I was sooo excited for Earthblade. Biggest bummer of a cancellation I’ve heard in a while.
A lot of people especially artists and developers need to learn this. The FIRST thing you should do after beginning a project is figure out its scope, its required features, how long it’ll take to develop and whether you can finance it. I’ve heard so many stories of people who spend years working on something that they just weren’t ready for. The Sunk Cost Fallacy should always be in your mind when working on a project - do not continue working on something that fundamentally doesn’t work even if you’ve spent years of your life getting it to this point, because you might spend years of your life trying to complete it when your mind has realistically moved elsewhere.
This sounds really horrible at first, but you should try to balance work you do at your job with smaller personal projects, and then if you want, a larger project alongside those. At least if that larger project goes wrong, you’ve got plenty of stuff done from those smaller projects that you could learn from and figure out what works.
The Celeste situation is crazy
Shit. Celeste is an incredible good game, from the mechanics to the narrative to the pieces it touches inside you. I will always remember it as i was playing it while my grandma died (i was working far away and i couldn't attend the funeral, so this game helped me to go through it).
But if the studio has such problems inside, probably this is for the best.
Really sad that this happened, this really was one of my most anticipated games ever since it got announced (it was announced 2022, he said it was 2021 in the video by mistake) and I hope for the best on whatever the devs do next
Also I sure do hope Silksong doesn't meet the same fate, at this point I'm glad that "no news" isn't "yes news, but it's a cancellation"
The game was announced in 2021; in 2022 a formal trailer was released.
Always make sure you're happy with your finished product, scope is important to manage as well, and you still have to meet fan expectations, but not always the way they think.
it’s like your favorite band breaking up. never feels good.
Pain. Ive been looking forward to Earthblade since I played Celeste. This game profoundly impacted me. At the end of the day, I respect their decision to cancel and hope the EXOK team is able to come together and rediscover the passion that made Celeste so special
If the team's not feeling it then there's very little to be disappointed about. It wouldnt probably go anywhere or ve as good as it could be. Its really when projects are killed for business and financial reasons that I get upset. Nowadays I try to not focus on release windows and just let things come out to check them out
This is a tragedy, and I feel terrible that Earthblade won't get to be a thing. That being said, if the devs truly felt that things just weren't coming together in the way they wanted, and they felt that splitting off, (albeit amicably), was the best choice to do, then I respect that. Maddy and Lena and the rest of those who worked on Celeste will always be regarded highly in my opinion, and whatever they do next, I look forward to greatly! If it weren't for the EXOK team and Celeste, I never would have found out who I truly am, after all!!! So, here's to you, the dev team at EXOK!!!! Thanks for helpting this silly girl believe in herself and feel like she can scale any mountain that life places in front of her!
Sometimes you just gotta admit you swung at strike three, go back to the dugout, and get 'em next time up.
Im incredibly sad to hear this news as well.
Celeste is a primary inspiration for my own game, LUCID.
So much so that ive been calling it a "Celestoidvania"😅
I was really looking forward to see how the team was going to tackle the concept..
I hope the best for the team, and that they know their work has inspired many devs like myself, and will try to do the concept justice!❤
This hurts so bad, I screamed NOOO
God… I saw the thumbnail and I immediately wanted to cry. These guys do not deserve things like this. IP disputes shouldn’t kill projects like this that were so promising. I hope they can get something out of this and make something great again.
Celeste is my favorite game of all time and this is so beyond sad for me
This is truly the darkest timeline
Celeste and BotW were amazing games to have for Switch. On the TV or in handheld, they just made the system feel magical. They were my first 2 Switch games...and even though I have a gaming PC with a huge backlog... I only played my Switch until I beat both these games.
I remember hearing in an interview, can’t remember who’s or when but I remember hearing a game developer said that at least to him each game felt like his own child that you know you watched grow and nurture and become this amazing thing. And so it can never be easy to admit this is not working and we have to move onto something elsebecause like in some regard is almost like giving up on a kid we were like I could see where this could turn out good but it’s just not working and it’s gotta be devastating for the developers.
I was more of a Towerfall guy than Celeste but still I was very curious about how Earthblade was going to pan out.
Dang
I literally heard about this game like a day ago and it was already cancelled😭
Butternut Squash? Yes Please!
Holy fuck come up with some original please
Ouch, this one really hurts. I was so hyped when they revealed the game with a simple panning image and music, and then being even more hyped with the gameplay trailer a couple years ago. They seemed to be pretty far into development, so I wished we at least got some version of the game.
Nevertheless, I hope what ever the group does next, as a group or splitting off, I wish them success and stability in these chaotic times.
This recent era of gold star standard indie games seems to all be one hit wonders. Even the ones that have released sequels or follow ups just aren’t achieving the same pace they shot out of the gate with. Here is a lesson we all overlooked from the NES and early game developers. Releasing one hit game is amazing, but releasing good sequels is the real test. Consistency and longevity are both incredibly hard to achieve and maintain.
Not at all
@@natalimoina ...Why not?
Not completely. I think The Witness is better than Braid and Obra Dinn is better than Papers Please.
The main appeal of games from smaller developers is the more unique ideas, a sequel just isn't unique and yet making something completely different from your previous game can be a high risk because it is just a gamble as to whether or not it will be popular.
@elio7610 You don't really NEED sequels as an indie. Indies focus on making their one niche, the BEST, and then move on to a different one. For example, Tour de Pizza has moved on to WOON instead of trying to top the Noise Update with a second Pizza Tower. Crosscode is being followed up by RadicalFishGames with a different top-down game idea, which is similar, but not the same IP.
The decision is a lot easier to when you made celeste. You can more easily afford to walk away from a failing project.
Arlo should just do a Dunkey and start his own game publisher
Dunkey can only do this because hes a millionaire, even arlos main channel isnt anywhere near dunkey's size
no he shouldn't lol
While obviously this is never the update anyone wants to hear, I am very thankful that the team didn’t need to tie themselves to an unfulfilling project. Whatever the future holds, I’m no less excited by this team. Wishing them the best
I can’t believe they would cancel silksong like this
Nothing has released that has makes Celeste feel less incredible than it is. Following that up was always something they'd struggle with. Same deal with the Hollow knight team.
I hope that the AAA game companies struggle and lack of output doesn’t negatively affect indie games.
It's fundamentally different how it works economically, organisatorally and psychologically
EARTHBLADE IS CANCELLED? NOOO!
It's sad, but if they knew it wasn't going to work out into a viable game, then I understand.
I didn't know they were developing it but Celeste is one of my favorite games I have played too 😢 that is unfortunate for the cancellation of the studio's next game
I heard they were making a new game a while back and was excited. It sucks that it's cancelled. I hope that maybe one day, they'll release something else. Celeste was such an amazing game! It was difficult and frustrating, but getting past the difficulties was so satisfying and the story really resonated with me in a way that few games have. I wish the team well though. They said on the website that they're going to work on smaller projects and that the person who split from the team is working on another game.
Is there a chance they could reopen the project? The title alone catches my attention.
Nope 🙃
From what I read of their statement, no.
Here's hoping some of the concepts are repurposed on future projects, or that a build of it leaks someday.
As someone who's been hyped since it was announced, and was legit having it as my #1 most anticipated title since. This news really blows.
But as someone who's working in the same field, it's sort of a realistic thing that happens a lot. Even to teams we consider the best. So many factors can get in the way of a vision, and even then a vision might not turn out the way those who held it expected. So while I'm super bummed and now like I don't really have any anticipated games anymore, I understand their decision and respect it.
2025 truly is the year of game Cancelation
How many other cancellations have there been?
Bro was born after Covid
If I knew of this before it was canceled, I'd've been hyped for it. The Celeste team making a game in my favorite genre... It sucks that it was canceled, but it's really common for some of the best games to have more strained teams who've argued about design decisions & ownership because of how much everyone involved is putting their *passion* into the work. It's not surprising, and it's even harder for the devs than it is for the consumers. I wish them the best on their next game.
If this happened to Silksong at this point, I'd bet there'd be pitchforks...
This is how I'm finding out.
no silksong, and now no earthblade? it's a sad year for indie game fans