After over five years of development, Extremely OK pulled the plug on Earthblade, in part because of Celeste's legacy.
Celeste creator Extremely OK Games (EXOK) has canceled production of its next title, Earthblade. Founder Maddy Thorson explained she and co-founder Noel Berry chose to scrap the game in December after the team began to "fracture."
According to Thorson, a disagreement formed between her and Berry (referred to in the statement as "us") and fellow EXOK co-founder Pedro Medeiros concerning Celeste's IP rights. After resolving that dispute, "both parties agreed in the end that we should go our separate ways." Medeiros' leave wasn't the deciding factor in Earthblade's cancelation, but it made Thorson and Berry consider "whether fighting through to finish was the right path forward."
Earthblade was first announced in 2021, and by her admission, development "was not as far along as one would expect," despite starting in 2019. The project "had a lot going for it," and Thorson believes it would have ended up great in the end. But the idea of toughing out development to reach that point was not worth it, and felt indicative of a "deeper problem."
Much of what made development so daunting was Celeste's success and the pressure "to deliver something bigger and better," Thorson continued. She said the strife with Medeiros "gave us the clarity to see that we have lost our way, and the opportunity to admit defeat. I feel many ways about it, but one big feeling is undoubtedly relief."
According to Thorson, several EXOK staffers have "moved on" following Earthblade's cancelation. The current team has now pivoted to smaller-scale projects in order to "rediscover game development in a manner closer to how we approached it at Celeste's or TowerFall's inception." While she considers building up staff post-Celeste a "failure," she and Berry have made peace with it.
"We are happy to return to our roots and reclaim some joy in our creative process, and see where that takes us," she concluded.
Thorson's full explanation for ending Earthblade and the studio's disagreement can be read here.
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