Surgent Studios, the team behind metroidvania Tales of Kenzera: ZAU, has put all team members on notice of redundancy as it seeks funding for its next game (thanks for the heads up, VGC).
The development studio, headed by House of the Dragon actor Abubakar Salim, released a statement on Twitter earlier today in which it revealed that the work of its game division has been put on "hiatus" while the search for funding continues.
"Everyone at Surgent worked incredibly hard to create Tales of Kenzera: ZAU - a game that truly comes from the heart," the statement continued, "Their passion, creativity, and dedication are nothing short of extraordinary."
While the message goes on to note that we should still expect "a couple of exciting updates" for ZAU in the future, it seems that it's full steam ahead on the next project, which the team describes as "darker, edgier, and more visceral" than its predecessor.
You can find the full statement and the original tweet below:
We've decided to put the work of the Surgent games division on hiatus while we secure funding for our next project. In the meantime, we've unfortunately had to put our team on notice for redundancy.
Everyone at Surgent worked incredibly hard to create Tales of Kenzera: ZAU - a game that truly comes from the heart. Their passion, creativity, and dedication are nothing short of extraordinary.
There are still a couple of exciting updates coming down the pipeline for ZAU.
But, for now, we have a message:Our team has created a prototype for a bold new project. It's darker, edgier, and more visceral than our first game, but it retains all ZAU's high-octane combat and cultural depth. And we're looking for a partner.
Help us bring our vision to life: surgentstudios.com/contact
Back in April, the studio acknowledged that it was facing layoffs after several employees began posting work updates on LinkedIn.
ZAU received some critical success earlier this year, though a drastic price drop in June suggested that its commercial success may be a little foggier. The drop coincided with Salim releasing a video in which he reported incidents of "constant targeted harassment" toward his team.
In our ZAU review, we praised the metroidvania's heartfelt story and colourful setting, but felt that it could never escape the shadow of the genre's greats.