Week before last, I mentioned in my weekly newsletter that People Make Games had released a documentary on YouTube about their investigations into emotional abuse across three different, highly prestigious indie studios. There were several aspects to it that made this even more depressing than those regular big toxic studio news that we more or less have come to expect.
One of these studios was Funomena, founded in 2013 by Robin Hunicke and Martin Middleton. Yesterday, Chris Bratt from People Make Games reported on Twitter that Funomena will be closed:
I’m absolutely gutted to report that Funomena is set to be closed by the end of this month, with all contractors already having been laid off as of last Wednesday.
This is an extremely sad end to the studio’s story and I hope everyone affected is able to land on their feet.
This announcement has caught many employees by surprise, who now find themselves looking for other work, with their last paycheck coming this Friday.
Then there’s Funomena’s official statement, also on Twitter, which paves the way for laying the blame on a new funding round that didn’t materialize. Finally, there seem to be voices who blame shuttering the studio on the release of the documentary, but (former) Funomena employees beg to differ.
Apparently, we can’t have good things.