Beast Breaker developer Vodeo Games will shut up store after the sport, first launched elsewhere in 2021, will get a Steam launch.

“The story is unfortunately a familiar one for small studios,” a Vodeo Games consultant wrote on Twitter. “Despite a year of avid efforts, we’ve been unable to secure funding for our next project from publishers and investors. As such, we’ve run out of funds and aren’t able to keep the team together — and there simply is no Vodeo without our incredible team.”

Vodeo Games was based in 2019 by Threes! creator Asher Vollmer, and revealed its first recreation, Beast Breaker, in 2021. The firm’s acknowledged mission was to launch one “cozy-crunchy” recreation per 12 months — video games you may “curl up with and completely lose yourself in,” with “complex, interlocking systems that can take years to fully master,” in line with its web site. The studio was engaged on its second, unannounced recreation.

Workers on the studio partnered with Communication Workers of America’s Campaign to Organize Digital Employees and had been formally acknowledged by Vodeo administration in 2021; Vodeo Workers United is the first formally acknowledged online game studio union in North America. Alongside different early union adopters, like teams at Activision Blizzard, Keywords Studios, and Tender Claws, Vodeo Workers United helped paved the way in which for future organizing efforts. The group stated its members will proceed to share info acquired throughout bargaining, regardless of Vodeo disbanding.

Vodeo Games was in bargaining with the union however hadn’t but reached an settlement. Negotiation was halted when the studio couldn’t renew funding, Vodeo Workers United stated on Twitter.

“Despite the sad news, we learned a lot & will continue fighting for workers’ representation moving forward by helping others & sharing our knowledge,” Vodeo Workers United wrote. “We want to thank the folks at @CODE_CWA for helping us throughout this adventure. We highly encourage you to reach out to them.”

Vodeo Workers United continued: “And to our fellow game workers out there with public campaigns, in the middle of bargaining their first contract, or just starting to discuss unionization with their co-workers: we see you, and we support you.”

The firm hasn’t stated when Beast Breaker will come to Steam, however the recreation is presently obtainable on Nintendo Switch and Windows PC through the Epic Games Store.