Developers working at Hothead Games will go into the Christmas holidays with the harsh reality that they won’t be returning to their previous roles when the holidays are over because the management has announced the studio is shutting down.
“It pains me to announce that Hothead Games Inc. is no more,” read a lengthy message posted by the studio head, Ian R Wilkinson, on LinkedIn. “Hothead closed its doors for the last time on Friday, December 13, 2024. We had a good run over the past 18 years but unfortunately, everything good or bad must eventually come to an end.”
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Hothead Games was founded in 2006 by former Radical Entertainment Ltd employees, Joel DeYoung, James Ceraldi, and Steve Bocska. In its early years, the company partnered with Penny Arcade, a popular webcomic. The partnership birthed two games based on the license.
From initially making console and PC games, the company transitioned to making free-to-play mobile games. That didn’t work out for them. So, they went back to their roots which was creating “sports games under the Big Win brand and shooting games under the Rivals at War (RAW) brand and eventually the Kill Shot brand”.
They found success with these games and Wilkinson said, “Those were the most successful years for Hothead.” Eventually, the studio transitioned to work-for-hire and porting games to re-establish themselves as a console developer.
The studio was thrown into bankruptcy after a deal to develop a mobile and console/PC version of an AAA game fell through. The console and PC publishers of the games pulled out of the deal due to a change in strategy.
“We created an amazing playable for an AAA property and had hoped to secure a contract to develop both mobile and console/PC versions of this game with different publishers,” Wilkinson wrote.
“Unfortunately, it took far longer than we expected to secure contracts for these versions of the game. They were both ready to close two weeks ago and then the mobile publisher pulled out due to a change in strategy. Two weeks later the console publisher also pulled out. At that point our only remaining option was bankruptcy.”
Ex-Hothead Games employees speak about the layoff
It appears some of the studio’s employees already knew the direction events were headed a month ago. GameBaba Universe found a post by senior 3D artist Alex Carigi in November seeking the support of his connections to find new roles.
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“As many of you may know, Hothead Games has closed its doors,” wrote Adam Gejdos, audio director and composer. “I had an amazing 18 years working there as Audio Director and Composer. I made so many friends and have so many amazing memories.”
“My legs still hurt from dancing for 6 straight hours at our 10th Anniversary party! I look forward to 2025 and the opportunities that will come my way. Life is full of surprises! I hope everyone has an amazing holiday and a stellar 2025!”
Technical 3D animator Eugene Gataulin and senior producer Michael Ockenden also posted about the studio closure. Over 15,000 jobs were lost in the video game industry this year with over two dozen studio closures.
