[DoctorEldritch]

Hello Legion Gamers,

I was in a melancholic mood today (which is often my affliction in November) and I stumbled upon a bit of a sad story: the game studio Humanoid Origin shut down.

If you've never heard of it, then you are not alone: the studio did not manage to develop a single game. It was a promising upstart, created by Mass Effect co-creator Casey Hudson, it was working on a new game sci0fi universe. But had to stop operations as a result of an unexpected funding shortfall.

Humanoid Origin did not share any details about the project they were working on except that it was "an action-adventure-RPG using the Unreal Engine 5 engine". Now all that's left of that ambition are a couple of artworks:





A real shame, I liked the art-deco futuristic vibe.

But this made me think: of course, it is sad when a known studio with an interesting project in the works has to close down (and there have been many such cases in the last couple of years, sadly), but it is a different kind of regret when studios close down without even getting a chance, like in this case.

I came across this story, and while Humanoid Origin is gone without leaving a mark on the gaming industry, perhaps it may have a small remembrance. Who knows how many other untold stories of what might have been never see the light of day? Small as it is, here is a chance to remember them. Do you know any?

@SKYTRiXSHA and @j7schultz, maybe there are some in the industry that are not talked about with the common gamers?

[miskkie]

I remember way back when intel tried to come up with a bit different kind of a GPU, intel larrabee, there was a cool looking game that essentially got cancelled because intel cancelled the gpu. Don't remember the name of the game but after googling it, must've been Project Offset.

A very tragic way for a game to die.

[DoctorEldritch]

@miskkie It may be one of the earlier cases when it has happened, but it's been happening more often exponentially, especially in the last years...

And when it rains, it pours, it seems. Yesterday I discovered the sad fate of Humanoid Origin, and today I read that Worlds Untold, a studio led by Mac Walters (one of Mass Effect 2 and 3 writers), is pausing operations while they are looking for a new financial partner.

It opened a year ago and aside from Mac Walters had veterans from Dragon Age, Halo and The Sims. Goes to show that even veterans are not safe from the turbulence of the industry. Or maybe the Mass Effect trilogy is cursed and those who worked on it are doomed to fail? 🤔

Still, Worlds Untold did not outright close down, "pause" means helping current staff members looking for new jobs and talking to other studios and companies for possible partnerships. Who knows, they may rise from the ashes like a game-dev phoenix. Before pausing, they were working on an action game set in the near future, here is a small concept art from that:



I am hoping they manage to come out on top after all, the industry needs a good success story, last one we had was probably Telltales, so it's overdue 😅