Barnyard Games, a studio founded by industry veterans including the creator of Borderlands Matthew Armstrong, John Blakely, Mark Cieslar, and Christopher Sturr, that was focused on making games within the Fortnite Creative mode using Unreal Engine for Fortnite (UEFN), has shut down, Blakely confirmed in a post on LinkedIn.
With Fortnite leaning more on user-generated content in Fortnite Creative, Blakely, Armstrong, Cieslar, and Sturr all took the chance to make games specifically for Fortnite Creative and be a part of the growing selection of titles available within Fortnite. While the studio was founded with the intention of exclusively using Epic's UEFN, it was not an Epic Games subsidiary.
The studio was founded and revealed in December 2023, and at the time, Blakely, who also took the role as chief executive officer, said on the potential he saw in the stuido, "UEFN is an array of untapped and exciting possibilities; a relatively unexplored landscape that allows us to experiment while also giving players a central role in shaping their virtual worlds. We’re excited to see how gamers resonate with Barnyard’s fun and quirky style of game-making, and we’ll continue to iterate with our players as we learn more about what delivers uniquely amusing game experiences and cultivates strong social connections."
Barnyard Games is responsible for titles like Mega Fun Golf Zone, and when it was first founded, was able secure $3.4 million in seed funding to get things going.
Today, Blakely shared "It is with a heavy heart I am sharing that the barn doors have closed on Barnyard Games. To our investors, founders, and team, thank you for believing in us, for pouring your energy into the work, and for walking this journey with me. Building alongside you has been the privilege of my career, and even in closing, I feel nothing but gratitude, respect, and pride in what we created together."
Blakely cited issues with finding funding for the studio as the reason Barnyard Games is being shuttered, and how the industry is going through a "tough moment" for anyone looking for funding.
Barnyard Games was certainly an interesting experiment, as Epic continues to try to compete with Roblox and its vast array of user-generated content. But if a group of industry veterans can't seem to make things work, then it doesn't bode well for others who might've looked to Fortnite and UEFN to tap into the massive player base that Fortnite wields.
With so many of today's players spending their time playing nearly nothing else besides Fortnite and a few other games, the fact that there seems to be little to no room for studios to tap into that is another troubling thought on the mountain of troubling thoughts that build for developers struggling in today's industry.
Update 12/09/2025: This article was updated to correctly identify Barnyard Games' founding and origins.
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