It’s been a tough ride for the developers of “Hero’s Song”, and unfortunately it looks like the game won’t arrive to the market after all. Recent reports indicate that the project has been officially cancelled for good, while the studio behind it – Pixelmage Games – is being shut down entirely.
Some followers of the project were apparently not too surprised by the development, looking back on its history. “Hero’s Song” originally failed to attract its target funding on Kickstarter, but that didn’t discourage the people behind it. The game made its way to Steam’s “Early Access” category, thanks to some additional investments.
And while many fans saw that as a positive sign and a ray of hope, it looks like the project was still doomed to failure. An unfortunate development, considering the huge potential behind the game, but hopefully it might inspire someone else to pick up the pieces in the future. Who knows what we might see a few years from now if someone talented enough took notice of what was going on.
The problem with the game, according to a statement issued by the studio, was that it failed to sell well enough to support its ongoing development, the forcing them to put an end to the project. The company did however confirm that they were going to refund everyone who had purchased the Early Access version, so fans shouldn’t feel too burned out.
This also includes supporters who originally contributed to the game’s Indiegogo campaign, the statement goes on to say. There are different refunding procedures in place for people who purchased the game through Steam compared to those who supported it on Indiegogo, but in the end everyone should be able to get their purchase refunded.
It’s quite unfortunate to see this particular project ending up like that, as “Hero’s Song” was one of the games with a stronger potential on the scene, according to many of its followers. It looked like a nice throwback to the good old days, with nice graphics and gameplay that could have brought some interesting developments to the table.
As we said above though, not all hope is lost – there is still the possibility that the project could be continued by someone else. Maybe not in its original state, but there is definitely the possibility that someone might feel inspired by the style of “Hero’s Song” and will explore it in more detail.
Perhaps this could even come from one of the major AAA studios on the market. While that may seem like wishful thinking at this point, it wouldn’t actually be the first time something like this has happened. There have been cases in the past where a failed indie project has managed to inspire something greater. And while the definition of “indie” is a bit questionable in this case, the main point still stands.
It’s also commendable how Pixelmage decided to go about compensating fans who had invested in the game originally, as this doesn’t always happen with kickstarted projects like that.
Hopefully the people behind the game will manage to move on to something else that will work out for them. They’ve already managed to build a name for themselves in the industry, so it shouldn’t take too long to find out about any new projects by them in the future. However, we also don’t expect the studio to announce anything new just yet, and it will probably take a while before we hear from them again.