Earthblade Cancelled: Celeste Devs Cite "Disagreements"

Earthblade, the highly anticipated game from the creators of the indie sensation Celeste, has been officially cancelled due to internal conflicts within the development team. Dive deeper to understand the full story behind this unfortunate decision.

Earthblade Is Officially Cancelled

Developers Cite Internal "Fracture"

The much-anticipated Earthblade, developed by the studio behind the beloved indie game Celeste, has been officially cancelled due to internal disagreements among team members. Extremely OK Games (EXOK), the developer, announced this sad news on their official website in a post titled "Final Earthblade Update." In this announcement, EXOK Director Maddy Thorson provided insights into the reasons behind the cancellation and outlined the studio's future plans.

"Late last month, Noel and I made the difficult decision to cancel Earthblade. We start the year with a significant, heartbreaking, yet relieving failure," Thorson stated, expressing her apologies to the fans who were eagerly awaiting the game's release. She admitted that the team is still coming to terms with the events that led to this decision.

Thorson explained that the cancellation stemmed from a "fracture" that developed within the team, particularly between herself, EXOK Computer Programmer Noel Berry, and former Art Director Pedro Medeiros. The core of the conflict revolved around a "disagreement about the IP rights of Celeste," though Thorson did not delve into specifics, citing the sensitivity of the issue.

The trio eventually resolved their differences, but this led to Medeiros parting ways with EXOK to work on his new game, Neverway, under a new studio. Despite the split, Thorson emphasized that there is no animosity, stating, "Pedro and the Neverway team aren't the enemy and anyone who treats them as such isn't welcome in any EXOK community."

"Losing Pedro wasn't the only factor in cancelling the game, but it did prompt us to take a serious look at whether fighting through to finish Earthblade was the right path forward," Thorson continued. She noted that despite the project's potential, it was not as advanced as expected after such a long development period. The pressure to surpass the success of Celeste added to the team's exhaustion. Thorson concluded that the team had lost its direction, and it was time to acknowledge the project's failure.

EXOK’s Future Plans

With many team members having moved on, Thorson and Berry are now looking to learn from this experience and start anew, focusing on smaller-scale projects. They are currently in the prototyping phase, experimenting at their own pace, and aiming to "rediscover game development in a manner closer to how we approached it at Celeste's or TowerFall's inception." Thorson expressed hope for future collaborations with former team members and ended on an optimistic note: "We gave it all we've got, and life goes on. We are happy to return to our roots and reclaim some joy in our creative process, and see where that takes us."

Earthblade was envisioned as an "explor-action platformer" that would follow the journey of Névoa, the enigmatic child of Fate, as they attempt to restore a ruined Earth.