Game publisher blames media for studio closure
The grim cadence of video game layoffs continues apace, but this latest news comes with a strange twist. Prytania Media has shut down studio Possibility Space effective immediately. In an email to employees reproduced on social media by Polygon reporter Nicole Carpenter, Jeff Strain, Prytania’s co-founder, seemingly attributed the closure to an as-yet unpublished article from Kotaku reporter Ethan Gach.
Strain wrote that he received questions from Gach regarding an upcoming article and that some of those questions pertained to a not-yet-public project codenamed “Vonnegut.” According to Strain, after receiving questions on Vonnegut, he had an emergency meeting with its publishers wherein it was decided that the publisher would cease investment, resulting in the project’s cancellation.
“As a result of the cancellation of the publishing relationship and after careful consideration,” Strain wrote, “I am closing Possibility Space.”
In a statement posted on the now defunct Crop Circle Games website (archived here), Crop Circle’s co-founder and Jeff Strain’s wife, Annie Delisi Strain, also addressed Gach’s reporting. “I stepped down as CEO this winter on a medical leave,” she wrote, “and while I don’t know the content of Mr. Gach’s article, I have no assurances that my personal health struggles as a rare female game industry CEO will not be covered in his article.”
Strain also commented on Crop Circle’s closure, attributing the studio’s shutdown to an inability to secure funding for its projects. “There was not a single organization of any kind willing to invest in continued game development,” she wrote.
Prytania Media was founded by the husband and wife duo in 2021. Before Prytania, Jeff founded Guild Wars developer ArenaNet in 2000 before going on to found State of Decay developer Undead Labs in 2009. In its short existence, Pyrtania accumulated four subsidiaries: the company founded Crop Circle Games and Possibility Space in 2021 and added India-based studios Fang & Claw and Dawon Entertainment in 2023.
Undead Labs was acquired by Microsoft in 2018. According to a 2022 report from Gach, after its acquisition, the studio faced a problematic transition period in which Microsoft’s hands-off approach “allowed dysfunction to fester, leaving some of the studio’s more vulnerable employees to fend for themselves.”
In an email to The Verge, Mark Neschis, head of corporate communications of Kotaku parent company G/O Media, declined to comment on Gach’s reporting or if they received a formal response from Prytania. The Verge has also reached out to Prytania Media for comment. Ethan Gach’s reporting on Prytania Media, Crop Circle Games, and Possibility Games has not yet been published.
The grim cadence of video game layoffs continues apace, but this latest news comes with a strange twist. Prytania Media has shut down studio Possibility Space effective immediately. In an email to employees reproduced on social media by Polygon reporter Nicole Carpenter, Jeff Strain, Prytania’s co-founder, seemingly attributed the closure…
Recent Posts
- Arizona accuses Amazon of being a monopoly and deceiving consumers with ‘dark patterns’
- Apple’s next accessibility features let you control your iPhone and iPad with just your eyes
- Microsoft announces the Proteus Controller, a gamepad for Xbox gamers with disabilities
- YouTube is becoming a cybercriminal gateway for human manipulation
- LG’s new super-bright OLED panel could give the next Meta Quest an edge over the Apple Vision Pro
Archives
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- December 2011