In a report from Gamesindustry.biz, Fogbank Entertainment is reportedly the next developer being closed down by Disney. This follows last week’s news of the company selling FoxNext Games.
“To our longtime fans, we regret to inform you that Storyscape will permanently shut down on February 3, 2020,” says a tweet from the developer. Additionally, players won’t be able to make more microtransactions as of Saturday, January 25.
To our longtime fans, we regret to inform you that Storyscape will permanently shut down on February 3, 2020. Beginning today (January 25, 2020), you will no longer be able to make in-game purchases.
— Storyscape (@Storyscape_Game) January 25, 2020
“The entire team at Fogbank Entertainment would like to thank you for your passion for our game,” the developer continues. “We hope that you’ve enjoyed Storyscape and thank you for making our time with you so fantastic.”
Storyscape was released on October 22, 2019 by Fogbank Entertainment and FoxNext Games. The mobile game let players embark on interactive, choice-driven stories based on properties such as James Cameron’s Titanic film, Edge of Extinction, and The X-Files to name a few. The layoff will affect an estimated 60 people, with no plans to relocate the developers to FoxNext Games’ Los Angeles studio.
Last week, Disney finalized a deal to sell FoxNext Games to Scopely, a mobile games publisher. FoxNext developed mobile games such as Marvel Strike Force and they’re currently working on Avatar: Pandora Rising. With these two recent developer updates, this falls in line with Disney wanting to distance themselves from the video game industry.
“We’re obviously mindful of the size of that business,” says Disney CEO Bob Iger in a statement in last year. “Over the years, as you know, we’ve tried our hand at self-publishing, we’ve bought companies, we’ve sold companies. And we’ve found over the years that we haven’t been particularly good at the self-publishing, but we’ve been great at the licensing side which obviously doesn’t require that much allocation of capital.”
On behalf of everyone at DualShockers, we wish everyone laid off from Fogbank lands on their feet and finds new jobs in the industry. If you want to see Storyscape in action, you can check out the game’s launch trailer below.
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