Developer Mimimi Announces Closure and Final Game Release
Mimimi, the game development studio, has recently announced that their upcoming title, Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew, will be the studio’s final game. The announcement, made through a blog post, revealed that Mimimi has decided to shut down operations within the next few months. The studio cited various reasons for this difficult decision, including the increased financial pressure and level of risk associated with producing a video game.
Mimimi founders, Dominik Abe and Johannes Roth, expressed their gratitude for the opportunity to create games but acknowledged the toll it has taken on their personal lives. They stated, “Making these games was amazing and extremely taxing at the same time. Reaching the level of quality Mimimi strives for is hard and requires focus and dedication.”
Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew – Launch Trailer
The studio also highlighted the growing production costs and the uncertainty of potential revenues for their genre. This financial burden, combined with the constant struggle to secure funding for future projects once their games were near completion, proved to be unsustainable for the studio.
Mimimi acknowledged that their relentless work on game development, starting with their successful pitch for The Last Tinkerer in 2011, had taken a toll on the team’s work-life balance. They stated, “We never expected this would be how Mimimi ends. But if even one of us were to break down, fail, or burn out, the situation would escalate quickly. Ultimately, managing a production on this scale, in combination with an extremely competitive market, proved to be too taxing for us.”
Despite the studio’s closure, Mimimi assured players that Shadow Gambit will continue to receive post-launch support. They are currently working on a patch for all platforms and have plans for a substantial content update later this year. Moreover, Mimimi’s management is actively helping their employees find new job opportunities within the industry. The recent sales of Shadow Gambit have allowed the studio to provide its employees with a bonus during this transitional period.
Notably, Mimimi has released several successful games throughout its existence, including Desperados 3, Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun, and The Last Tinker: City of Chaos.
Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew, the studio’s final game, has received positive reviews. In GameSpot’s review, it was awarded a 9/10 rating. Steve Watts wrote, “Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew is, through and through, a delight… a uniquely satisfying stealth-strategy experience. I can not only recommend it, but I truly hope it’s the start of a franchise so that I can spend more time with me mateys.”
The game industry has recently witnessed other significant developments, including BioWare’s announcement of significant job cuts as part of their efforts to restructure the studio.