An official statement has been released by Hidden Variable on Bluesky, where it was mentioned that the studio is no longer involved in any development of the Skullgirls games due to a legal dispute with Autumn Games, the publisher of the franchise. The dispute is now the subject of litigation, which has been filed in the Los Angeles County Superior Court. As the legal dispute is ongoing, Hidden Variable cannot make any comment on what is happening until the dispute is resolved.
It hasn't been said by Hidden Variable what the issue is between the developer and publisher, but it looks like it could potentially be regarding missed payments, as the legal document has been found on Trellis. After reading through the report, it seems that Hidden Variable is alleging that Autumn Games has failed to pay the developers multiple times between November and now, with the total sum of money totalling $1.23 million.
Although Hidden Variable will no longer be working on games within the Skullgirls franchise, Autumn Games has allegedly said that it will continue to update Skullgirls regardless of the ongoing dispute. However, it hasn't mentioned which games will be updated or when these updates can expect to be seen by the community.
The full statement made by Hidden Variable can be found below.
As of January 21st, 2025, Hidden Variable is no longer involved in the development of Skullgirls Mobile, 2nd Encore, or other Skullgirls IP-related efforts due to a dispute with Autumn Games which is now the subject of litigation filed in the Los Angeles County Superior Court. In light of that, we hope you understand that - beyond this statement - we will not be commenting further until this dispute is resolved.
All of us at HVS are incredibly proud of the 10+ years we've invested in Skullgirls in all its forms, including creating and supporting Skullgirls Mobile, bringing new characters and platforms to Skullgirls 2nd Encore, supporting the competitive community via the Skullgirls Championship Series, and helping fans new and old fall in love with the IP through the Skullgirls Webtoon and countless other partnerships.
Most of all, we're grateful to have been able to celebrate and support the incomparable Skullgirls community - many of whom we've been fortunate to meet in person over the years at various events.
Thank you all for everything - you deserve nothing but the best.
Skullgirls has had a rough time throughout the years, with the original developer being booted off of the project by Autumn Games, due to allegations that were made against the studio head Mike Zaimont.
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