No One Can Afford to Make ‘Myst’ Games Anymore

The creators of the Myst franchise, Cyan Worlds, announced last week that their latest game, titled Anglerfish, will no longer be developed. Anglerfish, a darker installment in the series, was a project that had been in development for four months when the studio decided to lay off 12 employees and abandon the project. Despite positive feedback on a playable demo, no publishers were willing to fund the game's completion, leaving the studio without the necessary financial support.

The decline of mid-market video game funding has left the industry facing a middle-market collapse, with triple-A studios like Rockstar, Naughty Dog, and Bungie spending over $200 million to develop and market a single game, while micro-indie studios often spend less than $1 million to develop their projects. The space between $2 million and $15 million for double-A games has become increasingly difficult to secure, leading to the shutdown of many mid-market studios.

The shrinking market is attributed to the collapse of venture capital funding for the video game industry, as interest rates have risen since the Great Recession and Covid pandemic. Additionally, the explosion of low-quality games on platforms like Steam has made it harder for publishers to invest in mid-budget games, as they require significant marketing efforts to stand out from the competition.

The loss of discoverability on these platforms has made it even less likely for publishers to take risks on mid-market games, causing them to explore alternative funding routes such as crowdfunding and game fund initiatives.