The folks behindCelesteprovided afinal update on their next big project, and unfortunately, it’s not the news everyone was hoping for. Due to a mix of internal disagreements and a lack of overall clarity on the state of the project, the team at Extremely OK Games has canceledEarthblade.
Last time we heard aboutEarthblade, EXOK said thatit would be missing its 2024 windowwhile assuring everyone progress was being made. While that may have been the case, the final update paints the picture of some tumultuous times behind the scenes.
Chief among them were disagreements Maddy Thorson and Noel Berry had with another founding member, Pedro Medeiros. This was hinted at back in November whenPedro hopped on X (formerly Twitter) to say they were no longer with the team. The post cited differences around the “art ownership” ofCeleste, and the blog post briefly touches upon this. In the post, Maddy says, “the conflict centered around a disagreement about the IP rights ofCeleste,” adding that they won’t be sharing further public details.
As the now-former art director,Pedro allowed the team to use all currentEarthbladeartworkso the project could continue after their departure. Though that might not have been what brought development to an end, Maddy says it provided an opportunity for further reflection.
The pressure of success
Considering how successfulCelestehas been for the EXOK team, it should come as no surprise that there was some added pressure as a result. According to Maddy, this pressure had them working hard to “deliver something bigger and better withEarthblade,” making for an exhausting development process.
Considering thatEarthbladewasn’t as far along as they would have liked and development had become a slog, Maddy and Noel started asking the hard questions. Would it be worth it in the end? Even if they knew they could pull an amazing game out of it, what toll would it take on the team? The fact that one of the primary feelings cancellation brought about was relief says a lot about the stress placed upon its creators.
Moving on
The end of an anticipated project may disappoint players and developers alike, but nothing gets worked on for that long without lessons being learned. Maddy says those lessons are ready to be applied, ideally on some “smaller-scale projects” with Noel. As for their relationship with Pedro, all parties seem to be playing nicely after the fact. Pedro is currently working on a game calledNeverway, which the team at EXOK calls “very promising.”
