According to a new report by VGC, Fable Fortune developer Flaming Fowl has decided to shelve its upcoming co-op RPG Ironmarked. Further, the team recently laid off more than half of its employees.
Flaming Fowl Studios is an indie team built from Lionhead Studios veterans who previously worked on the original Fable trilogy. Most recently, fans will recognize Flaming Fowl for the digital adaptation of tabletop classic Gloomhaven.
In VGC’s report, Flaming Fowl’s CEO Craig Oman says that Ironmarked struggled to find a publisher “partly because we’re a mid-tier size game.”
Oman also cited the current state of the industry, which is still undoubtedly rugged. Just last week, even GTA 6 publisher Take-Two Interactive announced layoffs and game cancellations. The environment for development funding is definitely altered.
Oman said that “we’re down to about nine people now, from around 30 people we were working with.” But the studio still has plans to release “a new small, self-funded strategy title” by the end of this year.
In the meantime, Flaming Fowl released an Ironmarked demo to generate wishlists. This data might convince publishers to change their minds. Ironmarked is a turn-based strategy game set in a medieval fantasy world. Hopefully, Flaming Fowl and the affected employees are able to recuperate following the layoffs.
Fable fans are still waiting for the next game, which got a new trailer at the 2023 Xbox Games Showcase.
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