Thick as Thieves developer OtherSide Entertainment has laid off 18 staff, in accordance with a Game Developer report, a transfer that comes simply two weeks after the studio laid off 17 folks following the cancellation of a brand new sport it had in growth. A studio rep advised the positioning that following this spherical of cuts, “fewer than 10” folks stay employed at OtherSide, engaged on updates for Thick as Thieves, and that there are “currently no plans for the studio to work on any future games.”
“OtherSide’s DNA is built on immersive sim games that have lengthy development cycles,” the rep mentioned. “This, unfortunately, has been an increasingly challenging space to occupy in recent years. Despite the encouraging response to the launch of Thick as Thieves’ introductory campaign, it has become clear that the continuation of the studio in its current shape is no longer a commercially viable path.”
It’s true that immersive sims have a tough time within the fashionable sport market. As Nightdive CEO Stephen Kick said earlier this year, they generally appeal to “a very small, niche group,” and thus tend not to be huge sellers. This limits the appeal of the genre to developers and publishers alike, especially in the current era of ‘make a huge hit or immediately go out of business.’
But Thick as Thieves made some misplays, too. After being announced and promoted as a PvPvE game, Otherside announced a new direction shortly before launch as a singleplayer/two-player co-op game. It was pretty good when it came out and had plenty of room to grow, but some of the game’s mechanics—particularly the mission time limit and exit countdown—were, and are, grating. For people looking for a modern Thief-like experience, Thick as Thieves just wasn’t quite it.
Thick as Thieves was also relatively tiny, offering an estimated four hours of gameplay out of the box. To compensate, Otherside priced it at just $5/£5/€5, which it hoped would be low enough to attract a sizable audience of players and “give the team the flexibility to develop additional content informed by how players engage with the game.” Judging by the player counts on Steam, although, that is probably not taking place.
As a fan of immersive sims, and Thief particularly, I hate to see this final result. Thick as Thieves wasn’t fairly what I hoped for in the way in which of a correct Dark Project follow-up, however I wished it to succeed so OtherSide may proceed to work on greater and higher issues within the discipline. The world wants extra immersive sims! I want extra immersive sims! Underworld Ascendant was an especially unlucky misfire, sure, however I used to be actually holding out hope {that a} new Thiefly sport from two of the OG immsim guys would have the juice. Alas.
There’s no official indication at this level that OtherSide will shut, however with the cancellation of the project codenamed Argos in June and this newest spherical of cuts leaving such a small variety of staff on the studio, it is exhausting to think about the place else it would go from right here. I’ve reached out to OtherSide for extra data and can replace if I obtain a reply.