Earthblade, the next game from the team behind the acclaimed Celeste, has been cancelled. Announced in 2021, it was slated for release last year before a delay.
Extremely OK Games founder and R&D director Maddy Thorson and programmer Noel Berry decided on the same late last month. It all started when Thorson and Berry disputed with art director and co-founder Pedro Medeiros regarding Celeste’s IP rights.
“We eventually reached a resolution, but both parties also agreed in the end that we should go our separate ways,” Thorson wrote. Medeiros has since co-founded Coldblood Inc. and is now working on a new title, Neverway.
While it wasn’t the sole factor for cancellation, Thorson said it prompted the duo to “take a serious look at whether fighting through to finish Earthblade was the right path forward. The project had a lot going for it, but, frustratingly, it was also not as far along as one would expect after such a protracted development process.”
Though she believes Earthblade could have been great if they soldiered through, Thorson and Berry were conflicted, and the pressure from Celeste’s success didn’t help. “Noel and I also began to reflect on how the game has felt for us to work on day-to-day and realized that it has been a struggle for a long time. Sure, working on one project for so long is bound to become a slog, but this feels like a deeper problem.
“Celeste‘s success applied pressure on us to deliver something bigger and better with Earthblade, and that pressure is a large part of why working on it has become so exhausting.
“Pedro isn’t to blame for this – in fact, the split with him has given 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.” Thorson also said that the decision and responsibility for the cancellation rested with her and Berry and that Pedro and his team “aren’t the enemy.”
As for what’s next, the duo wants to take the lessons learned, “wipe the slate clean,” and “refocus ourselves back to smaller-scale projects.” “We’re prototyping again and exploring at our own pace, and trying to rediscover game development in a manner closer to how we approached it at Celeste‘s or TowerFall’s inception.” Of course, the team still hopes to collaborate with composer Lena Raine, Power-Up Audio, artist Amora Betanny, and others.
“Scaling the core team up post-Celeste has ultimately been a failure, and that’s okay. We gave it all we’ve got, and life goes on. We are happy to return to our roots, reclaim some joy in our creative process, and see where that takes us.” Stay tuned for updates on the team’s next projects.
