Pixelmage Games
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Pixelmage Games was a San Diego indie game studio founded by John Smedley, the former president of Sony Online Entertainment/Daybreak Games best known for overseeing EverQuest. Its debut project was Hero's Song, an ambitious 2D pixel-art action RPG — an open-world roguelike with procedurally generated worlds, one-life permadeath, Diablo/Path of Exile-style combat, storytelling by fantasy author Patrick Rothfuss (The Name of the Wind) and music by Inon Zur (Fallout 4, Dragon Age: Inquisition). A team of about 20 industry veterans built it as a single-player game with MMO-like multiplayer ambitions.
02 / Pixelmage Games FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
Pixelmage ran out of money twice over. Its $800,000 Kickstarter campaign was pulled after a single week with only $136,800 pledged; a follow-up Indiegogo raised just $94,200 of a $200,000 goal. Hero's Song launched on Steam Early Access in November 2016 at $20, but early sales fell short of what was needed to fund continued development — the studio disbanded a year into full production, a classic case of an ambitious scope outrunning a thin funding base.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Crowdfunding falls short
Pixelmage's $800K Kickstarter is pulled after one week ($136.8K pledged); Indiegogo raises $94.2K of a $200K goal.
- Early Access launch
Hero's Song launches on Steam Early Access on November 7, 2016, priced at $20.
- Studio shuts down
On December 26, 2016, John Smedley announces Pixelmage Games is shutting down and Hero's Song development is cancelled: sales fell short of what was needed to continue. The studio offers 100% refunds to all buyers.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / AFTERMATH
Aftermath
Hero's Song remained on Steam Early Access indefinitely, never reaching a full release. Notably, Pixelmage issued 100% refunds to everyone who had bought the game — via Steam's standard refund process and direct email for Indiegogo backers — an unusually customer-friendly wind-down. Founder John Smedley said he planned to continue working in the games industry.