Extremely OK Games, LTD. has announced in a blog post today that they’re cancelling work on their no-longer upcoming 2D action-adventure game, Earthblade. EXOK’s past titles, Celeste and Towerfall, generated a lot of hype in the gaming community for their next project, which was sadly cancelled just today. Originally announced in April of 2021, it sounds like despite yearly updates, development was rather tumultuous. Along with development being somewhat rocky, a rights issue with the co-creator of Celeste has caused them to split ways with the team, leaving EXOK short handed, pressured, and out of gas.
Why Was Earthblade Cancelled? Behind the Decision
Pedro Medeiros, EXOK’s previous partner and pixel-artist, has an incredibly iconic style to their work. Along with the art they’ve used commercially, Pedro’s website features a really cool set of pixel art tutorials that range from dithering, clouds, and lots of animation work. Even if you’re not an artist, the work is phenomenal, you can check it out here. While EXOK and Pedro both skirt the details, it appears the issue was a rights one regarding the IP rights of Celeste. In fact, two months ago, Pedro posted on BlueSky that they were leaving the team, no longer working on Earthblade, and cited art ownership as the issue.
Neverway, Pedro’s new project with their new studio, Coldblood Inc., looks like a top-down action game that leans on atmosphere. And truthfully, whatever it is, you can guarantee it’ll look gorgeous. Even on Pedro’s website with just four screenshots I’m pretty pumped and hoping it’ll see the light of day. And even though there’s a split and Pedro will no longer be working with EXOK, the split appears to be amicable. Pedro’s follow-up response to their own post on Bluesky says that while the project was alive they were allowing the EXOK team to continue using the assets already implemented, which is just a swell thing to do.
And yet, despite that attempt at goodwill, the project is now sunk. While citing losing Pedro as ablow, Maddy’s blog post specifically says that wasn’t the only factor in cancelling the project. Apparently development had been a battle long before that and was an ongoing battle at that. Specifically, “Celeste’s success applied pressure on us to deliver something bigger and better with Earthblade.” We live in a world where studios are wiped from the face of the earth because of expanded budgets, lacking interest, one flop because an executive wanted a live-service game instead of appealing to a studio’s strengths. And yet, independently owned studio with a MAJOR hit under their belt still struggled with the pressure.
It’s a damn shame that Earthblade was cancelled, especially this long into development. I’m confident EXOK will put out another magical experience, big or small, and we’ll all be richer for it. And though this post is a complete bummer, it gives an insight into the thoughts behind the developers of some brilliant experiences and why it’s so important to support these studios. Make sure you show EXOK some support. Show Coldblood and Pedro some support as well. And remember that the market has a ton of games, it can support experiences like this being cancelled, especially for the sake of the creators.
What’s Next for EXOK and Coldblood Inc.?
If you’re interested in reading the full blog post about Earthblade’s cancellation, you can read it here. I wish EXOK and Pedro all the best.
