“The official statement is total marketing bulls***, the way this situation happened is on a whole different level,” says former Motion Twin co-founder Sébastien Benard.
Dead Cells has enjoyed consistent post-launch support since its launch in 2018, having received numerous updates and five expansions (four of which were paid)- though its fifth expansion, Return to Castlevania – which launched last year – is going to be its last, with Motion Twin having announced that Evil Empire – the studio that was created in 2019 to continue supporting the game – will be ending support for Dead Cells with its upcoming Update 35.
In its announcement, Motion Twin stated that Evil Empire would now be “pursuing new adventures”, however, Sébastien Benard – Motion Twin’s co-founder and Dead Cells’ lead designer, who left the studio in 2020 under acrimonious circumstances – has suggested that there’s more to the announcement of end of support for Dead Cells than it may seem.
As caught by PCGamesN, upon being asked about Motion Twin ending support for Dead Cells in the game’s official Discord server, Benard called the decision “the worst imaginable ahole move” and “total marketing bulls*”.
“Since you’re asking me, I’d just say Motion Twin did the worst imaginable ahole move against Dead Cells and Evil Empire,” he wrote. “Having seen first-hand the actual situation behind the scenes, I can honestly say I’m glad to not be part of this anymore. The official statement is total marketing bulls*, the way this situation happened is on a whole different level. I never imagined my former co-op studio would turn out to be such greedy people. I wish the absolute best to Evil Empire for their next things and hope people working there will survive this sudden economic cut.”
In June last year, it was announced that Dead Cells had sold over 10 million units worldwide across all platforms. Later that month, a 10-episode animated series based on the game was also announced for 2024.
Motion Twin is currently working on Windblown, a 3D roguelike action game that is set to launch in early access for PC sometime this year.
