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Prytania Media closes Crop Circle Games

Prytania Media closes Crop Circle Games

Crop Circle Games has been closed down by its parent company Prytania Media.

As reported by Game Developer, operations manager Luna Jade posted on LinkedIn saying that the firm was shut down after last week's GDC.

"Delighted that Prytania Media waited until the end of GDC to notify its furloughed employees Crop Circle Games is closing and we have been officially terminated," they wrote.

Meanwhile, gameplay programmer Vanessa Prinsen added that Crop Circle was "no more" while adding that the studio closure was messy.

"I spent a fantastic year and a half working with a supremely talented team on a game that I'm sad will never see the light of day," she wrote.

"and then I spent a weird two months with that same team, collectively dealing with a furlough/layoff that unfolded in the messiest, least respectful way imaginable - and at the worst possible time given the state of the job market."

In a statement on its Crop Circle's website, Prytania said that the studio's project was cancelled, in part as it couldn't find financing.

"After more than two years, development to a playable prototype, and dozens of pitches and reveals to publishers and investors, the Crop Circle Games game concept and execution did not find financial support for further development," Prytania wrote.

"Player tastes and market conditions have changed rapidly since the pandemic-era start of the studio and the game simply was not commercially viable.

"We want to thank the talented Crop Circle Games developers who did their best to produce a great game.

"We also want to thank our financial partner in Crop Circle Games for their warm support and innovative thinking in volatile market conditions and look forward to our continued partnership."


PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.