Game development studio Liquid Swords is closing down, Founder and Chief Creative Officer Christofer Sundberg has announced.
Sundberg confirmed the closure in a post on LinkedIn, saying he had done everything he could to make the studio succeed. The team built the studio from the ground up, created the game Samson and released it on PC and consoles, work Sundberg said took an enormous amount of effort from people who cared deeply about the project.
According to Sundberg, the console versions of Samson performed considerably better than the PC release, but that was not enough to keep the company going. He pointed to market conditions and to business decisions made along the way, and said he accepted his share of the responsibility. “Market conditions and some bad business decisions brought us here,” he said.
Sundberg also said the studio was in discussions with all parties involved in Liquid Swords over how support for Samson could continue after the closure. Nothing has been agreed, and no details were shared on what that support might look like or who would provide it. “There’s nothing to announce on that yet, but it’s something we’re working to resolve,” he said.
He thanked former staff, partners and players of Samson, and said the work the team did together deserved to be remembered for more than how the company ended. Sundberg did not say how many people had been affected by the closure, or give a date for when the studio would formally shut.
Sundberg’s plans for a new studio
Sundberg said he intended to get back to work soon and would share more about plans for a new studio. He described it as a company built with the current market in mind, with a foundation and business decisions designed to give both the games and the people making them room to succeed. The lessons from Liquid Swords would feed into how that studio was put together, he said.
“I still love making games,” Sundberg said, adding that he refused to give up and had plenty left he wanted to do. He did not confirm a name, a team or a timeline for the new studio, and there was no announcement on funding or publishing partners.
