The RPG Hero’s Song from Pixelmage, has been canceled less than two months after it launched on Steam early access. Pixelmage will also be closing down with the game.
Announced as it’s debut title Pixelmage was founded by John Smedley, the former head of Daybreak Games/Sony Online Entertainment, and was pitched as an “open-world roguelike fantasy action RPG” that you could play alone or with up to 25 others.
Smedley tweeted the unfortunate news and linked to the studio’s website, and now single paged site, explaining how refunds will work.
“It’s with a heavy heart that I have to report that Pixelmage Games is going to be shutting down and we have ceased development on Hero’s Song,” the message reads. “For the last year, our team has worked tirelessly to make the game we’ve dreamed about making, and with your support, and the support of our investors, we were able to get the game into Early Access. Unfortunately sales fell short of what we needed to continue development. We knew going in that most startups don’t make it, and as an indie game studio we hoped we would be the exception to that rule, but as it turned out we weren’t.”
Anyone who purchased the game through steam can go the normal refund process, players who supported on indiegogo can send an email with the right information to get their cash back.
“Thank you for all the support you showed us,” the message continues. “We’re sorry things worked out the way they did, but we feel strongly that we gave it our all and we’re proud of how far we came with the game. The fact that we weren’t able to finish the game is painful, but the journey of making Hero’s Song has been a great experience for us and we’re just sorry we couldn’t take it all the way.”
Originally intended to be launched on kickstarter, but the campaign was canceled after it only raised $137,000 in about a week, with indications showing that it wouldn’t reach it’s $800,000 goal.
