Hothead Games president and CEO Ian Wilkinson announced on a LinkedIn post that Hothead Games has shut down due to failing to secure publishing deals. The company was founded in 2006 by three former employees of Radical Entertainment, who created the Prototype series. The company initially developed various PC and Console games. It even partnered with the popular webcomic series Penny Arcade to make two successful projects. The studio later changed its tactics to producing premium and free-to-play mobile games.
Hothead Games published various small and inexpensive games, hoping one would take off. Unfortunately, none of them did. The studio decided to return to its roots and develop sports games under the Big Win brand and shooter games under the Rivals at War (RAW) and Kill Shot brands. Wilkinson said that these games were very successful, and those were the best years for the company.
Hothead Games also tried to make idle games, but Wilkinson said that they were too late to chase the trend. The studio then pivoted to a work-for-hire tactic and started to port games so they could establish their company as a console developer. Wilkinson said they even made a prototype for an AAA game and aimed to secure a contract with two publishers for the mobile and console/PC versions.
Despite their best efforts, securing contracts was challenging for Hothead Games. Wilkinson said that the two publishers were ready to close the deal two weeks ago, but then the mobile publisher pulled out after they had a change of strategy. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the console publisher also canceled the deal, and the only option left for the studio was to file for bankruptcy.
“We had a good run over the past 18 years, but unfortunately, everything good or bad must eventually come to an end,” Wilkinson wrote. The man said that the shutdown of Hothead Games studio wasn’t the most important thing. He said that their company was full of talented and hardworking people with whom he had the privilege of working. He hoped this wouldn’t be the last time the world heard of them, but even if that was the case, he said he had become a better person after working there.
