Night in the Woods co-creators cancel their new studio's debut project amid "serious" health issues

Revenant Hill
(Image credit: The Glory Society)

The Glory Society, an indie studio founded by Night in the Woods co-creators Bethany Hockenberry and Scott Benson, has some very sad news for fans: its debut project Revenant Hill is canceled and the studio is suspending operations due to serious health issues impacting two of its key developers.

"Making anything complex poses challenges along the way," reads a statement on The Glory Society's website, which sadly already refers to the studio in the past tense. "Games take a while to make and usually require a good team working together. We've been lucky to have one such good team. Unfortunately, recent serious health issues have necessitated two key members stepping away from the project indefinitely. 

"We are a small team and we each wear multiple hats. This is a loss of several hard to replace hats in an environment where all hats are needed. Given the realities of schedules, budgets, and the fraught task of reworking the whole project within those parameters, the team has amicably decided to suspend operations. For all intents and purposes, this is the end of the development of Revenant Hill."

Benson himself took to Twitter to share more personal details of his struggle with a heart condition likely caused by a viral infection.

"So. Over the past 12 months or so I got very sick and it didn't go away," Benson wrote. "Eventually I was diagnosed with severe heart failure, most likely from a virus. It will continue to greatly limit me for the foreseeable future and as such I've had to stop working in the manner I once did."

He continued: "I'll be taking some time to get to a better spot health wise before figuring out what’s next. Thanks for being interested in the stuff we make over here. Stay tuned for future things. I mean what else is there to stay tuned for. It's always the future. Thanks, folks."

As for the future of The Glory Society, its developers are understandably focused on health and aren't revealing any specific plans. "In the future, after the dust has settled, perhaps we'll talk about what we've made and learned together," reads the statement. "In the meantime, we want to thank everyone who worked with us, supported us, and believed in us."

We wish everyone at The Glory Society all the best.

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Jordan Gerblick

After scoring a degree in English from ASU, I worked as a copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. Now, as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer, I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my apartment, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.