Leonard Boyarsky, Tim Cain and Jason Anderson of California-based developer Troika Games have now made an official announcement of the developer’s closure. The news comes after
recent speculation on the developer's future, following two rounds of employee layoffs in late 2004.
The company recently completed work on Source Engine-powered PC FPS/RPG
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines for publisher Activision, and has also been responsible for similarly hardcore PC role-playing games
The Temple of Elemental Evil and
Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura – with many of the employees being veterans of classic Black Isle/Interplay titles such as
Fallout and
Baldur’s Gate.
Some will see Troika’s closure as evidence that such niche PC titles can no longer thrive so easily, at least not in areas of the U.S. where wages and development costs are relatively high, without some form of high-profile license. In particular, Troika's failure to acquire the
Fallout 3 license, which the company had been hoping to create a high-profile title for before Bethesda successfully sealed a deal with Interplay in late 2004, likely helped contribute to its demise.
According to the statement today, the developer has laid off all its employees and is closing its doors, due to an inability to secure funding for future projects. No decision has been made as to whether the developer will attempt to regroup for future projects, or whether this will be the end of the Troika name forever.
The final comments from the company are regarding its fans and former employees: "We want to thank all of our fans for their support these past seven years, it has really meant a lot to us that there were people out there who enjoyed our games enough to create fan-sites and follow our progress as a company. But we especially want to thank all of our employees - we had the pleasure of working with the some of the most dedicated, hard working, creative people in the industry, and we really appreciate all that they did for Troika."
