The Stanley Parable creator and Minecraft composer's indie studio is shutting down after one cozy sim because "it's a particularly tough time for raising game funds"

Ivy Road - the independent game maker headed by The Stanley Parable's creator, a prominent Gone Home developer, and Minecraft's original composer - is sadly shutting down.

"Ivy Road is closing its doors as of March 31st, 2026," the studio writes in what is likely the last ever blog post on its website. Ivy Road had been early in development on a new project called Engine Angel, which looked like a kickass vehicular combat game, but "unfortunately the funding didn't come to fruition and the studio had to shut down"

"While we tried to shop the concept around and find a publishing partner, unfortunately we weren't able to land a deal," the blog continues. "It's a particularly tough time for raising game funds, so while we weren't necessarily surprised, we are disappointed that we won't be able to bring Engine Angel to life together as a team. [Liz Caingcoy's] concept is incredible and we hope it may someday come to fruition!"

The studio was run by an all-star team of indie developers, including Davey Wreden of The Stanley Parable fame, Karla Zimonja of Gone Home fame, and Daniel 'C418' Rosenfeld of Minecraft fame, who eventually put out Wanderstop, a brilliantly subversive tea-brewing sim that's also cozy game about burnout and trauma.

The team say there's "still one last surprise brewing" for Wanderstop that they've been working on for about a year. Publisher Annapurna Interactive should be "sharing more news about this in the future," and in the meantime, Wanderstop will still be entirely playable and available to buy on every platform it's already on. The blog also includes a code you can input on Wanderstop's title screen that'll take you to a chapter select option, if you'd like to skip to your favorite bit.

"Making games is incredibly challenging work: it requires technical skills, emotional investment, financial investment, a whole lot of long hours, and a bit of luck and serendipitous timing thrown in. We are so proud that we got to create something together as a team that was ultimately experienced by hundreds of thousands of players: we hope that you're inspired to create something of your own someday, whether art, music, writing, or even a video game of your own," the blog notes.

Here's hoping all the talented devs can land on their feet.

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