Indie developer Flaming Fowl Studios, known for games like Fable Fortune and Gloomhaven, made a surprising move by releasing a demo for their new game, Ironmarked, on Steam while laying off more than half of their employees.
Flaming Fowl explained that due to financial challenges in the games industry, they had to pause production on Ironmarked and reduce their studio size. They hope that sharing the demo will highlight the talent of their former team members and help them find new jobs.
Today we are simultaneously releasing a demo of a new game and announcing that production has been put on hold due to the lack of funding in the industry.https://t.co/81r7ve3MQb
— Flaming Fowl Studios (@FlamingFowl) April 23, 2024
The studio was started in 2016 by former Lionhead employees to finish and release Fable Fortune after Lionhead closed. They later created Gloomhaven, a popular dungeon crawler based on a tabletop game.
Craig Oman, Flaming Fowl’s CEO, mentioned that Ironmarked was dropped by its publisher in 2023, and despite funding development themselves, they struggled to find a new publisher interested in the game. Many publishers now prefer very large or very small projects, leaving mid-sized games like Ironmarked in a tough spot.
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After the layoffs, Flaming Fowl’s team is now focusing on developing a smaller self-funded strategy game by the end of 2024. They hope that by sharing Ironmarked’s demo and gaining more wishlists on Steam, they can attract a publisher willing to support the game.
Ironmarked is described as a co-op RPG with turn-based combat, set in a fantasy world inspired by medieval Italy. Players hire mercenaries for quests, each with unique abilities and personalities that affect gameplay.
