Shadow Tactics developer Mimimi Games shutting down: 'Working on increasingly ambitious games took a heavy personal toll on us and our families'

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The studio has been making games for 15 years.

Desperados 3 Stealth Tactical Mimimi Games THQ Nordic
(Image credit: Mimimi Games)

Mimimi Games, the studio behind Desperados 3 and Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun, has announced it's shuttering its doors after 15 years.

The developer has only just released Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew, which Dominic Tarason called a "superb squad-based stealth strategy" in his highly-scored review. But a blog post on the Mimimi Games website revealed it would be the studio's final game. Co-founders Dominik Abé and Johannes Roth cited burnout at increasing project scales.

"We cherished every game we made and feel proud of what we were able to accomplish as a studio," the post read. "At the same time, dedicating the past decade and a half of our lives working on increasingly ambitious games took a heavy personal toll on us and our families. After the release of Shadow Gambit we decided it was the right time to prioritize our well-being and to pull the brakes instead of signing up for another multi-year production cycle."

The studio will be "slowly ramping down" over the next few months, with the blog post adding that opportunities are being sought out for its employees along with a bonus that was paid out "to help them during their transition."

It's a darn shame to see Abé and Roth pulling the plug on a studio that has consistently put out some absolute bangers. Both Desperados 3 and Shadow Tactics: Blade of the Shogun reviewed highly on our website, receiving a score of 86 and 92 respectively. Wanting to go out on your own terms—especially in the name of reclaiming some semblance of work-life balance—is understandable, though it's hard not to feel for the employees caught in the crossfire.

Mimimi says it plans to continue to "fully support" Shadow Gambit in the near future, with a patch and "a big content drop" already in the works. "We are now focusing on delivering the additional content for Shadow Gambit and fulfilling our duties as Managing Directors of the company—to our team, our fans and our business partners, in the most supportive way we can," the post continued. "And while we don't know what the future will hold for the both of us, we still love video games."

Mollie Taylor
Mollie Taylor
Features Producer

Mollie spent her early childhood deeply invested in games like Killer Instinct, Toontown and Audition Online, which continue to form the pillars of her personality today. She joined PC Gamer in 2020 as a news writer and now lends her expertise to write a wealth of features, guides and reviews with a dash of chaos. She can often be found causing mischief in Final Fantasy 14, using those experiences to write neat things about her favourite MMO. When she's not staring at her bunny girl she can be found sweating out rhythm games, pretending to be good at fighting games or spending far too much money at her local arcade.