Finnish developer Housemarque has been working away on multiplayer battle royale title Stormdivers for a while now, but it seems work on that project is being put on the backburner, with the studio instead prioritizing work on a new, unannounced project.
In a letter written to fans by Housemarque CEO Ilari Kuittinen celebrating the studio’s 25th anniversary, Kuittinen stated that the developer was now working on what he describes as their “most ambitious and biggest game” ever, and that as such, work on all other games – Stormdivers included – has been put on hold. Their entire team of over 80 people (which, Kuittinen points out elsewhere in the letter, is the largest ever Housemarque has ever been) is now working on this new project.
“Now we are focused on delivering our most ambitious and biggest game to date, putting every other project on hold, including the development of Stormdivers,” Kuittinen wrote. “It is great that the whole company can come together to deliver this game, which will define the next evolution of Housemarque.”
He later went on to add that the studio has “never delivered anything at this scale before” and that the time to reveal the game “is drawing ever closer.”
“We are eagerly awaiting the day we can announce it,” he wrote. “At the same time, it is always nerve-wracking to anticipate what your reaction will be when we do finally complete development and the game is out for everyone to enjoy. We’ve never delivered anything at this scale before. The time is drawing ever closer when our publishing partner will reveal what we are working on, with the launch coming after that.”
Owing to poor sales for games such as Resogun and Nex Machina and the financial repercussions that followed, Housemarque decided to instead focus on games that would have better success in terms of sales. However, when Housemarque announced that their next game, Stormdivers, would be battle royale multiplayer title, they faced quite a lot of backlash from fans. Just last year, in fact, the studio itself admitted that Stormdivers might not end up being very successful.
Here’s hoping whatever they’re working on now can strike a better balance between those two approaches.