14 DAY TRIAL // Video game developer Tale of Tales is announcing that it is no longer planning to work on video games and certainly not on commercial ones, with the decision made because of the low sales that were generated by its recently launched Sunset title.
Michael Samyn and Auriea Harvey are not saying what their plans for the future are at the moment.
The blog post which includes the announcement states, "After the barrage of sad tales about depression caused by indies turning into millionaires overnight, allow us to raise your spirits with a story about the liberating and energizing effects of complete commercial failure."
Tale of Tales is best known for titles that mix innovative gameplay ideas with emotional content, including The Graveyard, The Path, and Luxuria Superbia.
The studio says that Sunset was only bought by a little more than 4,000 people, which includes the people who have backed the initial Kickstarter effort for the title.
This was despite the fact that Tale of Tales ran a sales promotion for the video game, even if it was only recently launched, trying to get the money it needed to pay down accumulated debts.
Tale of Tales might create more artistic experiences
The company says that the small number of sales is a surprise given the critical acclaim that Sunset has been enjoying and the praise the developers have received from those who have actually played the game.
The development team is saying that they have hired a public relations agency to handle press and to get more exposure for Sunset, but sales of the game did not improve.
Advertising and other promotional activity also had no effect on the fortunes of the title.
It will be interesting to see whether a bigger publisher steps in to fund a new project for Tale of Tales in order to make sure that they stay involved in the video game world.
Indie gaming has been on the rise in the past few years, with a lot of companies aspiring to show their unique take on a genre and hoping that they will share the fate of Mojang and Minecraft, both by Microsoft, for a lot of money.
UPDATE: It seems that the Tale of Tales team might be re-evaluating its decisions and that the company might actually be expanding its operations, although it will no longer use a traditional business model.