Ballistic Moon, the developer that worked with Sony on its PS5, PC remake of Until Dawn, has “effectively closed” down, according to a new report from Insider Gaming. The outlet suggests, after speaking to sources “with knowledge of the situation”, that the studio is down to its bare bones following a quiet round of layoffs in December for staff working on post-launch support for the game. Now, it’s said only the founders remain and “possibly” a handful of workers “at most”.
While the team did work with Sony on the Until Dawn remake, Ballistic Moon remains an independent developer. It’s reported leads at the studio have been searching for funding and new projects, but couldn’t secure either. As for more work with Sony, one source speaking to Insider Gaming said the idea was discussed but never materialised. “Sony said after the game they might greenlight more funding for updates, but [it] looks like they didn’t.”
One source speaks to the working conditions at Ballistic Moon, where it’s described as “a generally good place to work” (in Insider Gaming’s writing) but there were “weeks” of unpaid overtime leading up to the internal announcement of redundancies.
Released in October 2024, the PS5, PC remake of Until Dawn proved a slightly controversial release as many fans questioned the point of it. With the PS4 version freely available and some downgrades present in the new version, it failed to properly take off. “With vastly enhanced graphics and minor gameplay tweaks, this is still a highly recommended game,” we concluded at the time. “The problem is it costs three times as much as its nine-year-old predecessor, and doesn’t have an upgrade path.”
There are still rumours of an Until Dawn 2 being in the works, but from Horizon Call of the Mountain team Firesprite, not Ballistic Moon. A movie that loosely adapts the original game is releasing next month. How do you react to this news? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
[source insider-gaming.com]
