SHOUT OUT - Velan Studios are handling a delicate situation with humility and hope
Looking to the future.
By Jonathan Garrett
07/03/24
NOTE: thatHITBOX Shout Out’s are not sponsored content. They’re games, developers, individuals, or issues that we want to highlight and share purely out of interest.
We’ve seen the gaming and creative industries being ravaged by budget cuts and layoffs in recent months, with teams from the biggest global publishers unable to stay immune to the impact. Yesterday, Knockout City developer Velan Studios announced that a partner project has been cancelled and therefore a number of dev jobs are at risk.
However, rather than immediately pull the plug, the 40 or so folks who are on the bubble were given a 60 days notice period, and a public statement from Velan revealing that some of their unannounced projects are due to release this year. It’s possible that “securing new partnerships will minimise the impact”.
It’s refreshing to see a developer so actively concerned about the longer term wellbeing of their employees, and that they’ve openly acknowledged both the challenges of their current situation, alongside hopes for the future. We very much hope that Velan manage to make it through, as they’re one of the best independent developers in the industry.
TARPS?
At the bottom of some of our articles, you’ll see a series of absurd looking images (with equally stupid, in joke laden names). These are the TARP badges, which represent our ‘Totally Accurate Rating Platform’. They allow us to identify specific things, recognise positive or negative aspects of a games design, and generally indulge our consistent silliness with some visual tomfoolery.
