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When I learned that Epic Games laid off over 1,000 developers, I wanted to believe that indie studios would be what saved the struggling video game industry. Smaller teams banding together to create more innovative and alluring titles based on new and existing franchises could blaze the best path forward. Unfortunately, most indie studios still face the same funding and support problems as bigger studios.
Take the recent closure announcement of Ivy Road. That studio was founded by The Stanley Parable’s Davey Wreden. Last year, the studio released Wanderstop, a cozy game about a fighter farming and working at a tea shop to recover from burnout. Although Wanderstop received positive reviews and got a Games for Impact nomination at The Game Awards 2025, the studio couldn’t find funding for its next game.
According to a post on Ivy Road’s website, the studio had been tinkering with a new project called Engine Angel. Early footage shared by Ivy Road’s Liz Caingcoy shows that it’s an action game where players fight using the car they are driving. It’s a novel concept, but the studio ultimately couldn’t get it funded. “It’s a particularly tough time for raising game funds, so while we weren’t necessarily surprised, we are disappointed that we won’t be able to bring Engine Angel to life together as a team,” Ivy Road explains.
I’ve been working on a game pitch and story dear to me, “ENGINE ANGEL”, with the team at Ivy Road! We’re still seeking funding, but in the meantime I wanted everyone to still be able to share the work they’ve done. I’ll be sharing more as well as reposting any of the team’s posts so stay tuned!
— Liz (looking for work😁) (@lizc3d.bsky.social) 2025-12-20T20:26:49.209Z
As of March 31, the studio will be shut down. Its developers are now looking for work just like those recently laid off from Epic Games.
While the closure of developers like Bluepoint Games or Meta’s game studios can be credited to the changing whims of desperate large corporations, Ivy Road was failed by an industry that would not fund its next game. Indie studios aren’t immune to the same problems plaguing the AAA space right now, even if they have a rad-looking pitch and their last game earned a nomination at The Game Awards.
As Ivy Road succinctly put it, “making games is incredibly challenging work: it requires technical skills, emotional investment, financial investment, a whole lot of long hours, and a bit of luck and serendipitous timing thrown in.” Going indie isn’t a guarantee of success, and these smaller-scale games can’t save the industry if no one is willing to fund them. That needs to change if we want to see a better future for this medium.
