"Goodbye for now": Still in Steam Early Access, action RPG from ex Ubisoft, Capcom, and Riot devs with $17 million investment hangs it up after "mixed initial reviews and a declining player base"

As a longtime fan of both Sailor Moon and action-RPGs, there's a lot about Starlight Re:Volver that appeals to me visually and mechanically. Sadly, the game's potential has been cut unceremoniously short due to lack of funding, developer Pahdo Labs announcing both this and another roguelike from the company are now effectively cancelled.

"Since our last update in November, we've been grappling with the reality that Starlight Re:Volver did not achieve the commercial success we need to sustain Pahdo Labs," Daniel Zou, the studio's CEO and founder, said in a statement posted on Starlight's official X/Twitter account. "We aimed high, spread ourselves too thin, and shipped a game that couldn’t hold a healthy player base."

He says Starlight Re:Volver's "mixed initial reviews and a declining player base" contributed to investors rescinding financial interest, leading to the development of a second game, Edge of Divinity. "We believed making a demo of a familiar but new game would be our best shot," he writes. "Unfortunately, we have not yet been able to secure that financing."

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The team boasted former devs from Ubisoft, Capcom, Riot Games, and more, giving it, and Starlight, some genuine pedigree. Colorful and vibrant, Re:Volver's an eye-catching and fun debut, with a lot of potential for expansion. Many agreed, as Zou comments on the over $17 million that was raised to support the studio's efforts.

"The vast majority of those resources went into market rate developer salaries, art, and content production," he says. "A little more than half that total amount went towards the development of Starlight Re:Volver. The rest went to past and experimental projects, mostly Halcyon Zero."

This was the predecessor to Starlight, from which Pahdo Labs altered course for what would become the anime-inspired action-adventure. To finish, Zou reiterates Starlight Re:Volver will remain playable in its current state as a purely single-player experience, and a demo of Edge of Divinity is now available on Steam. "This is goodbye for now," he adds.

RPG legend returns to the franchise he co-created 40 years ago as Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era's advisor, "adding to the guidance the team already receives from Ubisoft"