Threat of Rain 2—and the collection usually—has loved loads of success through the years. With the primary sport made by uni college students Duncan Drummond and Paul Morse, and being considerably of an indie smash hit, the second arrived in 2019 and likewise bought gangbusters, hitting 500,000 gamers in early entry.
Then in 2022, the Threat of Rain IP shifted fingers from Drummond and Morse’s improvement studio, Hopoo Video games, over to Gearbox—and, if the reception to its newest enlargement’s something to go by, it is not, uh, been going nice.
In the case of Hopoo, although, it seems to be just like the studio’s journey is coming to an in depth. As introduced on the Hopoo’s Twitter, each the studio’s founders, in addition to “many different gifted members”, are going to be “engaged on sport improvement immediately” at Valve, now.
The thread continues: “We’re extremely grateful to Valve for his or her partnerships within the final decade, and are excited to proceed engaged on their superior titles.” This shift in course comes with a sacrifice, although: “this does imply that we’re stopping manufacturing on our unannounced sport, ‘Snail’.” Drummond additionally commented on the transfer, through quote tweet: “I work at Valve now”. ’nuff stated.
All of it ends with a bittersweet send-off: “We love making video games—and can proceed to take action, for years to come back. We’re excited to be working side-by-side with the gifted folks at Valve. However for now—sleep tight, Hopoo Video games.”
I’ve bought some combined emotions on this, myself. I’ve loved mainly each Hopoo Video games title I’ve performed—so to know there in all probability will not be any extra originals from the studio, even when the majority of its builders are working at Valve now, does kinda sting.
The same scenario occurred with the previous Firewatch builders Campo Santo, who had been introduced into the Valve fold in 2018—which brought on Within the Valley of the Gods, a sport introduced seven years in the past, to linger in improvement purgatory. It is even at present bought a placeholder date of December 2029 on Steam, so I believe we’re gonna be ready some time, naked minimal.
Then again, contemplating what Valve’s doing with Impasse for the time being (it is very, excellent) bringing on Hopoo to doubtlessly work on that venture—although it is unclear the place precisely they’re going to be positioned—looks like a win for everybody. To know there was a sport in improvement that is now being cancelled additionally sucks, however Snail was by no means introduced—so it is onerous to mourn what you by no means knew.
Moreover, whereas I’ve seen some memes about how ‘Valve does not launch video games’ in response, I am unsure if that basically applies anymore. We have had Dota: Underlords, Half Life: Alyx, Counter-Strike 2, and now Impasse in 4 years. The slumbering studio’s output is revving up as soon as extra and I, for one, am eager to see what bringing Hopoo into the fold does for that.