Hyper Light Drifter Studio Heart Machine Announces Potential Closure After Mass Layoffs
Heart Machine, the indie studio that is likely best known for 2016’s Hyper Light Drifter, has announced that it may have to close its doors following new layoffs at the company. After bursting on the scene with Hyper Light Drifter, which went on to become a critical success, Heart Machine followed up its debut project with 2021’s action-platformer Solar Ash. It would then return to the universe of Hyper Light Drifter, this time with a roguelike dubbed Hyper Light Breaker, in 2025. And while Hyper Light Breaker didn’t generate the success that Heart Machine needed, it’s a new decision that has put the studio on very thin ice.
In a post shared to social media today, Heart Machine CEO Alx Preston announced that a publisher that was funding an upcoming game from the studio opted to pull out from the project in recent days. As a result, Preston said that the company was no longer able to operate in such a way that it could afford to keep most of its developers employed, as this was the primary way in which Heart Machine was currently bringing in money. Preston regretfully said that “nearly everyone” at Heart Machine had to be laid off because of this project falling apart, adding that the studio as a whole may not survive.
“We had been working on an unannounced title, funded by a publisher. This week, the publisher decided to no longer move forward with it,” Preston said. Without this key income for the studio, any other immediate prospects or other funds, nearly everyone at the studio had to be laid off. It’s devastating. […] Right now, I’m not sure yet how or if Heart Machine survives. Navigating an increasingly challenging industry has been extremely difficult. However, we’ll keep pushing to build a path.”
While Heart Machine and its games have been quite well-received by players and critics over the years, it’s also struggled to reach the same level of notoriety that was seen with Hyper Light Drifter in the decade since its arrival. The failure of Hyper Light Breaker, in particular, seemingly put the studio in a very rough position, as the lack of interest that it generated during early access forced Heart Machine to cancel its ongoing development less than a year after it was released. This lengthy development time that was put into the game undoubtedly drained any funds that Heart Machine had tucked away from its past titles, which made its next game all the more important. For this future game to have now lost funding could ultimately be the final nail in the coffin for this talented team.
Considering the goodwill and cult fanbase that Heart Machine has established over the past decade, perhaps there is a path forward that will allow the studio to rely on fan funding or partner with another publisher to stay alive. If such a move doesn’t happen soon, though, Heart Machine close its doors in the very near future.