Wyrdsong isn’t completely dead, but it’s on life support

WYRDSONG | Announcement Trailer | Something Wicked Games

Wyrdsong was first announced three years ago on Gamescom Opening Night, but the RPG from long-time Bethesda and Obsidian veterans has faced numerous obstacles since its announcement. Developed by Something Wicked Games, Wyrdsong promised to be blending of talents that had Elder Scrolls fans excited for something that would (probably) release before The Elder Scrolls 6, but the studio announced last year that it had laid off much of its staff. Now we have more news that the project isn’t dead in the water, but it doesn’t look like its original vision.

NetEase founded the game’s development with an initial investment of just over 13 million dollars, but that isn’t enough money to go far in today’s industry. Later attempts to find investors fell flat, and the studio made cuts to extend the development and finish the project.

Studio co-founder Jeff Gardiner told PCGamer, “We’re down to a skeleton crew, and I am continuing to work hard to try to find further investment or publishing offers for the game. I’m hoping to sometime this year, but we’re just trying to hang on to ride out the storm, which a lot of people thought was going to be over in 2025 and I do not see that reality at all currently. Right now, it’s very tough.”

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Gardiner says the quality and size of modern games contributes to part of the problem. In the earlier years of the industry, video games were shorter and fans would buy them more frequently. Now, massive games allow players to sink hundreds or thousands of hours into a single title. He cites Skyrim as an example.

Wyrdsong is still in development, and the team behind it is full of big names with years of developmental experience. However, unless they find funding and more talent to help finish the title out, Gardiner said there’s a chance the game might not release. “The risk of it never seeing the light of day, it makes me sad. That’s why I’m working really hard to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

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Although it’s accurate to say that Xbox doesn’t have an exclusive quite like Astro Bot, a few excellent 3D platformers are available on Xbox Game Pass. Many of them are even IP now owned by Microsoft or outright published by Xbox Game Studios. If you have an Xbox console and Game Pass subscription and feel like you’re missing out on Astro Bot, consider playing one of these games to make that feeling a little less painful.

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