'Perma-permadeath' game Upsilon Circuit has been cancelled

Upsilon Circuit, the fascinating game which limited players to one single life, has been cancelled. Studio Robot Loves Kitty made the announcement today, citing funding as the "primary" issue, though there's quite a bit to it.

Indeed, a spokesperson has written at length on the studio's website, explaining what went wrong and why the team has had to abandon the project. Funding issues and the project's ambition appear to be the primary reasons. "The oversimplified answer would be that the scope of the game was too ambitious and we underestimated the time and money needed," the blogpost reads. "In reality, for any project, there are many things that can go wrong that influence these things.

"As with anything, it’s.. ..complicated. But the big troubles for us were: Scope, pushing beyond our capabilities, jumping into a partnership for funding, and overwhelming stress."

Bringing in outside funding may have been the biggest factor, with the small studio unprepared for all the added pressures involved. "Signing with a partner or publisher and bringing in a larger team are very normal things to do in the industry," the post reads.

"However.. they were entirely new to the both of us. Learning (about setting and meeting Milestones, dealing with various issues, and managing a large team) on such a complex project turned out to be very bad for us and UC. No one really did anything markedly wrong, but nothing seemed to go the way it was supposed to."

The post is lengthy, and if you're interested in the fate of the project it's well worth a read. The good news is that Robot Loves Kitty isn't closing, and the studio has a new project coming next year (Spring in the Northern Hemisphere, Autumn in the south) called Super Tony Land – a "physics platforming adventure game" with a focus on user-created levels and game worlds. And it looks very cool:

Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.