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News Paladin Studios, the developers of the 1st party published Switch game "Good Job!" have been shut down.

Krvavi Abadas

Krvavi Abadas

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Sad news: Yesterday, our quest came to an end, and we have closed the studio.

For almost 19 years, we have poured our hearts and souls into creating games that make you smile. Starting as a bootstrapped mini studio in 2005, we followed the twists and turns of the game industry and slowly but steadily found our place in it. Over these years, the studio peaked at 55 people. As of this writing we were 45 people, each and every one of them a brilliant mind and kind heart, and together they truly created magic. We also worked with incredible partners such as Nintendo, Apple Arcade, Netflix, Zeptolab, Bandai Namco, and many others. Last but not least, our games are being played by millions of people, earning prestigious awards and bringing smiles to people all over the world. This was a dream come true - in fact, for us, it was THE dream come true.

However, over the past months, we unfortunately failed to land enough work to cover our burn-rate. Yesterday we hit an inflection point for our financial security. Going further with the current outlook would have been an irresponsible decision that would have likely caused insolvency. We have therefore taken this step to ensure a proper winding down, where all employees are given proper severance and the studio remains debt-free.

We want to thank the team, our partners, and our fellow industry colleagues for all the good times. It truly was a wild ride, and we wouldn’t want to have missed it for the world.
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(linkedin post)

this was part of a series of various "indie" titles Nintendo has published for Switch, alongside other notable projects like Snipperclips by SFB Games (currently working on Crow Country) and The Stretchers by Tariser Studios (last released Little Nightmares II in 2021, said IP has been switched over to a different dev thanks to Tariser getting picked up by Embracer in 2019)
would have been nice if Nintendo considered picking the studio up, but that's not something they typically do.
 
Heartbreaking, but if there's any silver lining is to see responsible leadership understand the situation at hand and not deliberately screw over their employees in the eleventh hour

Hopefully everyone lands on their feet
 
A shame.

Gotta give props to leadership for handling this so well. Proper severence and a slow winding down vs laying off to keep a sinking ship afloat.

Hope everyone lands on their feet.
 
Very responsible and commendable to handle it this way. Hopefully it’s enough time for everyone to find new work while they wind down.

Shame that the couldn’t last or find more stable partnerships. Their work wasn’t groundbreaking but always super solid.
 
Based on their website, it looks like they were primarily a mobile developer. Good Job! looks to have been their only console game and there are a surprisingly few PC/Steam releases. So even if Nintendo were buying companies, I doubt they would get much consideration since they primarily focus on mobile development.

Hopefully everyone finds work in the near future though.
 
I was expecting worse news for the layoffs, but it seems like management has a good head on their shoulders. Their company just couldn't keep up. Which is a shame, since Good Job was honestly a delight.

In any case, I hope the people working there find new jobs as soon as possible.
 
That sucks but that's the reality of business. Especially one reliant on client work. In a small team situation, the management needs to balance revenue stream and team morale. Sometimes, you take up boring work that pays but team morale will take some hit. Sometimes, you take up something fun but doesn't pay as well. One bad month can easily tank small enterprises. But constantly looking for the next big deal is a recipe for burn-out.

I think... kudos to the management for knowing when to take the bullet and let go. That is something that I need to learn for myself.
 
HockeyBird said:
Based on their website, it looks like they were primarily a mobile developer. Good Job! looks to have been their only console game and there are a surprisingly few PC/Steam releases. So even if Nintendo were buying companies, I doubt they would get much consideration since they primarily focus on mobile development.

Hopefully everyone finds work in the near future though.
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Fairly similar story to Over Fence, which also made a Switch game that Nintendo published, and that also had to close down. Good Job is a much better game than Flip Wars, though.
 
I really enjoyed Good Job, shame to see them close down.

Good to see actual responsible management focused on closing out a heartbreaking financial situation as well as possible for their remaining employees though. Plenty of leadership teams in far bigger companies should take note.
 
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