A genre that is currently causing problems for studios: Tactical strategy games that rely on stealth. Although the games “The Lamplighter League” and “Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew” received good to outstanding reviews on Steam, player numbers are low. This is bringing the studios behind the games to their knees. First, it hit Mimimi Games in Munich, and now Harebrained Schemes is also facing serious issues. There have been mass layoffs, and the publisher Paradox is parting ways with the studio.
What kind of genre is this?
- The genre can be described as “Tactical RPG with stealth elements.”
- The games often feel like digitized versions of tabletop games, where you move cute figures across the board and make tactical decisions.
- You can develop the figures you move, just like in an RPG, giving them skills and items.
Despite 95% positive reviews – a flop on Steam
These are the games:
- Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew was released on August 17, 2023 on Steam – and has 95% positive ratings there. It has 85% on Metacritic.
- “The Lamplighters League” came to Steam on October 3 and has 72% positive reviews. With its exciting 30s setting, the game has 75% on Metacritic.
Thus speaks the curse: Both games failed to convince upon release on Steam. Player numbers remained far below expectations, resulting in dire consequences for both studios.
Paradox parts ways with the studio behind “The Lamplighters League”
This is what happened to Harebrained Schemes: The publisher of “The Lamplighters League”, Paradox Interactive, first expressed its disappointment with the game. This is expected to result in around $22.8 million in losses.
According to reports from former employees, there had already been significant layoffs in the studio back in July (via resetera). These layoffs have since been confirmed by the studio: Once the main development of The Lamplighters League was completed, the team shrank from “full strength” to a “post-launch development” team, as there was no new project to which employees could switch.
Now, Paradox has even announced that it will part ways with the developer “Harebrained Schemes”. From January 1, 2024, the studio will be independent again (via pcgamer).
Harebrained Schemes apparently wanted to develop another game in the genre, but Paradox decided that such a game no longer fits into the portfolio.
One of the best German gaming studios is giving up
This is what happened to Mimimi Games: The studio from Munich was hit even harder. The team in Munich specialized in this type of strategy game, had built up a fan base over the years, and had earned a good reputation.
But after the commercial failure of Shadow Gambit, the founders decided to shut down the studio.
The strain was too high. Especially the difficulty of continuously finding new sources of funding was cited as a reason.
The genre has always been niche – Now Baldur’s Gate 3 is added
Why is the genre performing so poorly? At least three factors come together:
- Strategy games with stealth elements are a niche and a “lover’s” genre. There are genre classics, but the genre simply doesn’t have that many fans. Stealth games with action elements like the “Thief” series are apparently more popular.
- It is very difficult to market games of the genre in any form through trailers or Twitch. These are not games that are great to watch.
- Both games were released right in the middle of the hype for Baldur’s Gate 3 – which offers similar gameplay with turn-based tactical battles, albeit with a different focus, and seems to contribute to the genre’s failure.
More about the end of Mimimi Games:
