Celeste devs cancel Earthblade, part ways, and explore other projects

The folks behind Celeste provided a date on their next big project, and unfortunately, it’s not the news everyone was hoping for. Due to a mix of internal disagreements and a lack of overall clarity on the state of the project, the team at Extremely OK Games has canceled Earthblade. 

Last time we heard about Earthblade, EXOK said that it would be missing its 2024 window while assuring everyone progress was being made. While that may have been th𝓡e case, the final update paints the picture of some tumultuous times behind the scenes. 

Chief among them were disagreements Maddy Thorson and Noel Berry had with another founding member, Pedro Medeiros. This was hinted at back in November when ) to say they were no longer with the team. The post cited differences around the “art ownership” of Celeste, and the blog post briefly touches upon this. In the post, Maddy says, “the conflict centered around a disagreement about the IP rights of Celeste,” adding that they won’t be sharing further public details.

As the now-former art director, so the project could continue after their departure. ♏Though that might not have been what brought development to an end, Maddy says it provided an oppo♏rtunity for further reflection.

The pressure of success

Considering how successful Celeste has been for the EXOK team, it should come as no surprise that there was some added pressure as a result. According to Maddy, this pressure had them working hard to “deliver something bigger and better with Earthblade,” making for an exhausting development process.

Considering that Earthblade wasn’t as far along as they would have liked and development had become a slog, Maddy and Noel started asking the hard questions. Would it be worth it in the end? Even if they knew they could pull an amazing game out of it, what toll would it take on the team? The fact that one of the primary feelings cancellation brought about was relief says a lot about the stress placed upon its creators. 

Moving on

The end of an anticipated project may disappoint players and developers alike, but nothing gets worked on for that long without lessons being learned. Maddy says those lessons are ready to be applied, ideally on some “smaller-scale projects” with Noel. As for their relationship with Pedro, all parties seem to be playing nicely after the fact. Pedro is currently working on a game called , which the team at EXOK calls “very promising.”