All four years, while work was underway on the game, studio staff received a salary. However, Leshniak from the very beginning warned that the future of the studio depends on the success of the debut project. Nevertheless, while the sales revenue was being calculated, employees were paid money for September-November.
Sales were a failure. Leshnyak himself does not name specific figures, but, according to SteamSpyThe game Devil’s Hunt was bought by only five thousand people. Then the head of the studio announced a general meeting and warned that he would try to find financing for a new project and orders for outsourcing, but now there is no money at all.
After that, part of the staff honestly admitted that they could not wait, and went off to look for another job. And even those who remained began to take up part-time jobs. But by January, almost no one was appearing in the studio office. And in February, it became clear that there would be no funding.
Let’s make it clear: in late January and early February, those involved in the work could be counted on the fingers of one hand. The rest I did not give any tasks, they were waiting for the situation, but at any moment they could take up other work.
In February, employees either did not come to the office at all, or came to work on their own projects.
Pavel Leshniak
By this time, it became clear that there was nothing to pay for the rental of the office, and it was not needed. Leshniak went to the owner of the building and offered to sublet his premises. The release of unnecessary space begins.
Two or three people who were then in the office began to pack. But there was nothing more to collect and there was no one in the studio.
Pavel Leshniak
The reasons for such a loud failure of an ambitious project are called both ignorance of the market realities and a number of erroneous decisions. Leshniak himself, for example, recalls the bad experience with hiring former employees Platige imagewho volunteered to do story clips.
The newcomers themselves called “The witcher»And trailers for Cyberpunk. According to the effects artist Dominic Gajewski, it turned out that one of them cleaned up the scans of the corpse in the background.
This, of course, is the main failure for the entire existence of the studio. They said that everything will take them three months. It took 3-4 times more, and did not finish the job. All attempts to attract these comrades to the development of the game led to the same: everything was sent to the basket.
Pavel Leshniak
The founder and head of the studio Layopi Games filed for bankruptcy. According to the law, everything that can be gained from a single released game and after the sale of property will primarily be used to cover production costs and other financial obligations. Only then will employee benefits be considered.
It is not known whether Devil’s Hunt will be released on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
More on review
