Indie Publisher Versus Evil is Being Shut Down

Team Fortress: Source 2, a fan project seeking to port Valve's classic shooter to the Source 2 engine, is officially dead. The news was announced following a DMCA takedown demand from Valve that blocked the group's GitHub repositories. It joins Portal 64, which was also canceled less than a week after the release of its "First Slice."

Amper Software, the team behind Team Fortress: Source 2, and James Lambert, the dev working on Portal 64, have stated that they’re ending development of their fan projects following cease and desist demands from Valve.

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Stray Souls developer Jukai Studio is shutting down. The decision to close was in light of its publisher Versus Evil also shutting down, but the studio additionally cited cyberbullying, Stray Souls' poor reception and bad sales as contributing factors.

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Versus Evil, the publisher behind The Banner Saga and Pillars Of Eternity 2, among others, has been closed down and its entire staff laid off. Versus Evil were bought by tinyBuild in November 2021.

The sudden closure of Versus Evil on Friday has had an immediate impact on the industry. The first impact was the loss of jobs for many, who would not have expected this just a few days before Christmas. The next impact was the closure of Jukai Studio, developer of Stray Souls. Versus Evil had published that game earlier this year. Jukai Studio is not the only developer that is having to rethink plans, as other games were set to be published by Versus Evil.

The sudden closure of Versus Evil on Friday has had an immediate impact on the industry. The first impact was the loss of jobs for many, who would not have expected this just a few days before Christmas. The next impact was the closure of Jukai Studio, developer of Stray Souls. Versus Evil had published that game earlier this year. Jukai Studio is not the only developer that is having to rethink plans, as other games were set to be published by Versus Evil.

Following on from last night’s news that indie publisher Versus Evil had closed down with immediate effect, leading to job losses for staff, additional impact is being felt elsewhere. Jukai Studios, the development studio behind Stray Souls which was published by Versus Evil, has announced that it too will be closing its doors. Jukai Studios consisted of two developers who have decided to go their separate ways. The full statement can be read below.

DC and CCG Lab has announced that the collectible card game DC Dual Force will be shut down in February, barely a few months after leaving beta and fully launching. DC Dual Force is a free to play card game that had its full release on PC on 18th October. The open beta for the game began on July 14th, 2023.

TinyBuild has shut down indie publisher Versus Evil.