Just days after the iOS release of Hell Yeah! Pocket Inferno, the quirky yet tiny indie developer Arkedo Studios has sadly broken up. While there are a couple more finished titles that are in the pipeline for release, production at the studio is officially kaput.
On his blog, co-founder Aurelien Regard cited dwindling resources as the reason for the split,
It has been decided to disband the team when there still was enough money to get good conditions for everyone, rather than replace permanent positions with interns and a bad atmosphere. As in any human matter, it is important to know when to stop, to get a clean situation. It is precisely because we did this at this time that everyone from Arkedo is still having a good time together, even after it’s officially over.
At the very least, this is an admirable way to handle such a closing. When so many larger studios are satisfied with gouging their content and exploiting their employees to prolong the inevitable, it’s nice to see Arkedo handle things so intelligently.
That said, this news is really quite heartbreaking. While Hell Yeah! failed to make the splash many of us were expecting, the games these guys thought up were always bursting with distinctive character and ambition. Go play Big Bang Mini if you need proof. I’ve grown to be a bit of a fan of their work, and it’s truly disheartening to see them stamped out so abruptly.
[Source: Game Informer]
It is disappointing to see a small creative studio close so quickly. While I didn’t find Hell Yeah! to be that good, I think it had more to do with being overly ambitious than a reflection on the abilities of the people working on it. Their past games prove they are able to do amazing work. While Arkedo may be gone I’m sure we’ll see the employees pop up in new small studios as I believe one of them already stated he plans on starting up a new company.