Death Inc creators Ambient Studios have closed

Ambient Studios, creators of charming plague-ridden RTS Death Inc, have sadly succumbed to an advanced case of financial haemorrhaging. Despite Death Inc's promising blend of cheerful Bullfrog-esque humour and inventive strategy controls, the game failed to find its initial Kickstarter target. Since then, an alpha release through the team's website and a successful campaign through Steam's Greenlight appeared to signal a recovery. Unfortunately, it seems, it wasn't enough to keep the studio alive.

"It's time for a sad announcement: Ambient is shutting its doors," writes Ambient head Jonny Hopper in a post on the studio's website . "It's been an amazing ride and we've produced some amazing products like Monster Meltdown and Death Inc. We're super proud of what we achieved, but ultimately we didn't manage to make enough money to keep the wolves from the door. And so we had to make the difficult decision that it is no longer feasible for Ambient to continue operating."

With the studio no longer able to deliver on Death Inc's alpha tiers, full refunds are being issued to backers. Hopefully the team of ex-Media Molecule, Criterion, and Lionhead staff will go on to equally enticing looking projects in the future.

"Thank you so much for all your support and encouragement along the way," Hopper finishes. "We've got no regrets and have loved every minute of it."

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.