Deceive Inc. developer Sweet Bandits has announced that it will close down, but the studio says it's currently "considering options" with regards to what will happen to the game itself.
In a post on the forum of Deceive Inc. publisher Tripwire, lead designer and Sweet Bandits co-founder Philippe Pelletier Baribault, also known as Baribandit, says he and his company have "reached the breaking point", and that they are "unable to continue this adventure".
Baribault says he and Sweet Bandits walked a "long and difficult road of trying to get Deceive Inc. in a state where it could thrive", but that they haven't managed to achieve this goal, hence the studio's closure.
With regards to "the path ahead" for Deceive Inc., Baribault says that he and his studio are considering the best way for "maintaining this game that we all love". It's possible, then, that Deceive Inc. won't be shutting down.
In fact, right now, servers and access to the game will remain active, although a quick look at the game's SteamDB numbers indicates that this might not be the most meaningful decision, unfortunately.
Even if Deceive Inc.'s servers do remain available for play, however, it doesn't look like we'll be getting any new games from Sweet Bandits in the future, which is a shame.
Deceive Inc. was released back in March last year. It's a competitive multiplayer shooter based on espionage and subtlety; you're better off sneaking around rather than going in guns blazing.
Unfortunately, it seems that the game's quirky, cartoony art style and focus on stealth rather than arena combat failed to help it find an audience.
That said, Sweet Bandits' demise is just the latest tragedy in a long line of studio closures, project cancellations, and widespread industry layoffs that have affected both big companies and small developers alike.
