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KeokeN, makers of the acclaimed video game Deliver Us Mars, has ceased operations entirely and laid off its entire staff.
In a post to X on Tuesday, the studio said it was shutting its doors because it couldn’t find any publisher for its ongoing work. The studio said its representatives visited Game Developers Conference 2024 in San Francisco, a convention where publishing deals are often brokered, but came home empty handed.
Heartbroken, we've had to lay off our team at KeokeN because of nothing substantial materializing directly after our visit to GDC. We’ve unfortunately exhausted all our possible options for publishing, work for hire, and co-development.
It is our utmost priority to make sure our… pic.twitter.com/3QHzJzgCfl
— KeokeN Interactive🐧 (@KeokeN) April 30, 2024
Deliver Us Mars, which launched in February 2023 for Playstation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One and Xbox Series X, was well received by game critics and featured in the prestigious Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Network monthly gaming offerings that year, which makes the studio’s closure all the more surprising.
Set in a post-apocalyptic world where resources are scarce, players of Deliver Us Mars had to comb the moon’s surface in the first outing, and in the second installment, mined the Red Planet to save humanity.
Deliver Us Mars team laid off
The studio was apparently unable to find a publisher for the third installment of the “Deliver Us” series, to be called Deliver Us Home.
The first game, Deliver Us the Moon and its sequel, Deliver Us Mars both received very positive ratings on Steam and a host of awards. The series was a cult favorite with fans, who shared their sorrow on social media.
Posts like “Deliver us Moon was a great game. Sad to hear.” from @streamingdeluxe and @DevvyPrince’s “Deliver Us Mars was one of my favorite games I played during 2023. Brought me to tears so many times. This message kills me to read. Like many others, I’ll be eager to support your future projects!”
Despite the news, which adds to a lengthy list of studio layoffs across the past year, KeokeN chief executive Koen Deetman said he and managing director Paul Deetman remained committed to games development. “Paul and I are heavily beat, but far from beaten,” he wrote. “It’s our personal mission to rebuild KeokeN brick by brick like we’ve done before, in the name of our people and to continue the legacy of our games.“
Image: KeokeN Interactive.
