Dead Cells, it's almost over…
THE designer of Dead Cells, Sébastien Bénardwho founded the Motion Twin studio in Bordeaux, is very unhappy with the way the studio is going to end support Game.
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“The worst bullshit imaginable”
After seven years of support since its Early Access release, Dead Cells sees its road come to an end. THE original studio, Motion Twin, and Evil Empire studio (which Motion Twin had created) in charge of DLC and updates, end their collaboration on the game. This decision caused a strong reaction from Sébastien Bénard, co-founder of Motion Twin (of which he has no longer been a part since 2020) and designer of Dead Cellswhich qualifies this choice as “the worst bullshit imaginable”. On the game's official Discord server, he answers a question on this subject:
Since you asked me, I'll just say that Motion Twin did the worst stupid thing imaginable towards Dead Cells and Evil Empire. Having seen with my own eyes the real situation behind the scenes, I can honestly say that I am glad to no longer be a part of it. The official statement is pure marketing bullshit, the way this situation happened is on a whole other level.
(…)
I never imagined that my previous co-op studio would turn out to be so greedy. I wish Evil Empire the best for their next endeavors and hope the people who work there survive this sudden budget cut.
Bénard turns to his new studio…
Since his official launch in 2018, Dead Cells benefited from active monitoring, with regular updates and DLC. Last year, the game even hosted a important Castlevania-themed expansion. However, the end of the game's follow-up was not well received by Sébastien Bénard, who left Motion Twin in 2020 to found another development company, Deepnight Games. In his statements, we clearly feel that the story ended badly. The studio he founded, Motion Twin, no longer looks the way he wants, no longer carries the same values, according to him. It now remains to be seen what Deepnight Games will do in the future, since there is no no doubt that the next game from the designer of Dead Cells will be particularly anticipated.
…Motion Twin looks to its next game
According to Bénard, the end of support for Dead Cells is not insignificant for Motion Twin. He suggests that this decision could be linked to the promotion of the studio's next game, Windblown, an action roguelite. While Motion Twin ends Dead Cells, Evil Empire, the studio responsible for monitoring the game, also turns towards new projects. This abrupt transition has raised questions about the future of the team, especially if budget cuts are expected. But as you can imagine, the end of support for Dead Cells does not mean not the end of the franchise, which is still very popular and brings a lot of profits to Motion Twin. The studio prepared already spin-off projects, including an animated series and a board game.