Goodgame closes 4th Floor studio, cancels PC debut weeks after reveal

Casual and social outlet Goodgame has plugged the plug on its new studio and first PC title mere weeks after their announcement.

The German developer originally unveiled the 4th Floor studio, led by former Warner Bros exec William Corey Barnard, and untitled action-RPG project, built using Unreal Engine 4, at the end of February. The team was initially established in June 2015.

“Entering this segment is vastly important in our pursuit of becoming one of the world’s leading game developers,” CEO Kai Wawrzinek said at the time.

However, fewer than two months after the reveal, the studio has now told Develop that work on the planned debut would be halted and replaced by a pair of new PC games.

“Goodgame Studios has decided to broaden its strategic focus regarding the development of high quality PC client games and focus on two new titles,” a representative for the developer said.

“We are convinced that this is a highly promising market segment for free-to-play games. More resources will be committed to the development of PC client titles.

“At the same time, we have decided to stop the development of our most recent PC client project with immediate effect. After conducting a diligent analysis, we have concluded that the game would not deliver the intended user experience for our key target audience.”

Goodgame added that it would close the newly-opened 4th Floor arm of its studio, but insisted that no developers at the company would be made redundant.

“In line with this, we will also shut down our 4th Floor Studio, which was exclusively responsible for the development of the game,” the rep continued.

“There will not be any layoffs. All affected employees will be offered new positions, mostly within the two new PC client projects.”

4th Floor employed more than 70 staff, including veterans from Blizzard, EA, Epic and Riot.