We've recently reported on the deal between Disney and Scopely, with the latter purchasing FoxNext Games (including Cold Iron Studios) for an undisclosed amount.
San Francisco based studio Fogbank Entertainment wasn't part of the deal and, until now, its fate remained unclear. However, GamesBeat reported on Friday that Fogbank Entertainment is being shut down by Disney and its 60ish developers are being laid off as a result; they should be getting some kind of severance, at least.
The news is indirectly confirmed by a blog post that appeared yesterday on the official website of Storyscape, the mobile game released by Fogbank Entertainment in October 2019 on Google Play and the App Store.
Dear Player,
We are sad to announce that Storyscape will permanently shut down on February 3, 2020. As part of the shutting down process, beginning today (January 25, 2020), you will no longer be able to make in-game purchases. We hope that you have enjoyed Storyscape and we thank you for your passion for our characters, shows, and team.
- The Fogbank Team
According to Sensor Tower, the game registered about 1.7 million downloads since then. Storyscape featured several 'interactive shows' where players were allowed to alter the course of the stories with their choices. The shows included some based on big Fox IPs such as Titanic and The X-Files as well as some brand new ones such as Life 2.0, Eternal City and Edge of Extinction.
The latter story had been penned by Drew Karpyshyn, the acclaimed writer behind Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and the first two Mass Effect games, who joined Fogbank Entertainment after leaving BioWare in March 2018. He had followed Daniel Erikson, who was at BioWare for seven years as the Lead Designer and Writer on Star Wars: The Old Republic; Erikson held the position of Studio Director at Fogbank, though he left the company a few months ago, just as Storyscape was about to release.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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