Humble Games’ last release before the studio was “restructured” last week, Bõ: Path of the Teal Lotus, has launched a Patreon to support the game “in these uncertain times”.
Writing on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, developer Squid Shock said that whilst it did not fault the team’s work, Humble’s changes “have meant we have missed out on critical post-launch support, which may put our studio’s future at risk”.
Although Humble has disputed the statements of former staff that characterised the layoffs as a shutdown, instead insisting laying off its staff is merely a “restructuring”, Squid Shock also describes the changes as “shutting down”.
Squid Shock also revealed that within hours of Humble’s news breaking, it “lost access to the pipeline of critical systems without warning”. Whilst it still manages the game on Steam and was able to push out a patch, “the same can’t be said for consoles”.
“At the time of writing we still do not have that pipeline restored,” the team admitted.
“It has been a hectic two weeks since we launched our first game Bo: Path of the Teal Lotus. We are delighted with the overall reception Bo has had, and we’re already responding to player feedback to further improve the experience,” the team said.
“Despite this, our launch was not without its challenges, our publisher shutting down has meant we have missed out on critical post-launch support which may put our studio’s future at risk. We want to make it crystal clear that this was in no way the fault of the Humble Games team we worked with. It is just a sad time in the industry and ultimately, we understand,” the statement continued.
It confirmed that it was currently taking “steps” to restore access to its console editions, and as it began as a “community endeavour”, it was turning to its community again to help secure its future via Patreon.
Last week, several Humble Games employees took to social media with reports of layoffs at Humble Games.
“At 9AM this morning,” business development manager Nicola Kwan wrote in a post on LinkedIn, “36 employees of Humble Games were told that we were being let go and that the company is shutting down”.
In response to those initial claims, a Humble Games spokesperson later confirmed “restructuring” at the company, but insisted it was “not shutting down”. Former employees, however, intimate otherwise.