'Life is Strange' Creator Don't Nod Pauses 2 Projects Amid Troubled Year

Life is Strange creator Don't Nod announced that it is pausing work on two projects. It made the decision after publishing its financial results for the first half of this year.

The studio revealed that its two latest titles, Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden and Jusant, "performed well below expectations." Don't Nod's financial report showed an 11% decrease in its total operational revenue compared to the same period last year.

Don't Nod's Less-Than-Expected Performance

It went down from $18.5 million to $16.4 million and the studio's development revenues dropped to $2.2 million. This reflected the completed development of Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden. Don't Nod also suffered a drop in capitalized production to only $1.2 million.

This allegedly happened because of the "temporary suspension of two production lines." The studio's sales soared to $1.3 million due to its back catalog. These include Vampyr and the Life is Strange franchise on top of Jusant and Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden, according to GamesIndustry.

The studio will undertake a $26.8 million write-down of the Jusant and Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden's assets in response to its recent underperformance. It also temporarily paused two projects that are currently in the design phase, with a write-down of $8.5 million.

This was allegedly done to prioritize Don't Nod's resources and maximize the chances of success of the titles that have the greatest potential right now. The studio now plans to focus on upcoming intellectual properties that are in production.

The development will supposedly bring Lost Records: Bloom & Rage being pushed to the forefront. This is due to the game's "particularly positive reception" during Gamescom 2024, IGN said.

Don't Nod chairman and CEO Oskar Guilbert said that they were obviously disappointed by the studio's recent performance. He noted that they were competing in an extremely selective market.

Suspending Two Projects

As of March 2024, the studio had seven games in development, including the two that have just been suspended. Don't Nod also revealed the number as part of an internal restructuring that saw three branches created to focus on role-playing games, narrative adventure titles, and action-adventure projects.

Many players enjoyed Jusant and some even called it a "2023 standout" amid many high-profile titles and franchises. On the other hand, Banishers: Ghost of New Eden was described as being rich in atmosphere, history, and horrible deeds.

Despite the good reviews about these two games, it was not enough to save them from performing much weaker than they were expected to, according to PCGamer.