"Not the ideal way": "Hyper Light Breaker" dies in Early Access
The indie studio Heart Machine is laying off employees and ending the development of "Hyper Light Breaker". However, at least one update is still to come.
(Image: Heart Machine)
Development cancelled in Early Access: This can not only affect unknown game start-ups, as the current case of “Hyper Light Breaker” shows. The game from the indie studio Heart Machine, which was founded in 2013 and has been successful to date, will not be finalized according to the original vision, the studio confessed to the industry magazine Game Informer.
Instead, Heart Machine had to lay off employees and stop work on “Hyper Light Breaker” during the early access phase. “This was not the path we would have liked to take, but it was the only one possible under the circumstances,” Heart Machine told Game Informer.
Last update in January
At least one more update will be released in January: “We plan to deliver something meaningful, as polished and complete as is possible under our current circumstances.” The aim is to bring the development of “Hyper Light Breaker” to a “satisfactory conclusion.” It is quite possible that “Hyper Light Breaker” will be officially pulled out of Early Access with this update, but the statements from the developers leave little doubt that more was originally planned.
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At least the timeline fits: “Hyper Light Breaker” was launched in Early Access on Steam in January 2024 and was expected to take around a year until the final release. The Early Access concept allows players to purchase a Steam title during active development to financially support the team's work and influence the process with feedback.
However, the concept always carries the risk that a title will never really be finished, and you spend your money on a permanent beta. In such cases, the money is not returned. On the whole, the Early Access concept is successful: the best-known titles developed via Early Access include “Baldur's Gate 3,” “Satisfactory,” and, most recently, “Hades 2.”
Heart Machine continues
Heart Machine was previously considered a largely safe bet in the indie scene.“Hyper Light Drifter” is one of the better indie games of the past decade, and “Solar Ash” was also well received and considered a success. But with “Hyper Light Breaker,” the spark didn't really want to ignite. Even before the development stop was announced, the game had mixed user reviews.
The decision to halt development was due to “forces beyond our control,” Heart Machine told Game Informer. These included changes in funding, consolidation of games companies, and the generally uncertain market situation in the games industry.
It is unclear how many employees will be made redundant. Heart Machine intends to continue developing video games with a smaller team—after the inglorious end of “Hyper Light Breaker,” but the team will have to reckon with mistrust from the gaming community.
(dahe)
