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Hopoo Games, the studio who made chewy roguelike Risk Of Rain and its moreish 3D sequel Risk Of Rain 2, are shutting up shop and taking jobs at Valve. They’re no longer working on a previously unannounced game called “Snail”, say the developers on Xitter. Instead, the studio co-founders Paul Morse and Duncan Drummond (plus “many other talented members”) are taking up game development roles with the Steam owners.
“It’s been an exciting and transformative 12 years,” say the developers. “We feel lucky for the opportunities we’ve had, and deeply appreciate both our team and fans that have supported us and our games.
“We love making games – and will continue to do so, for years to come. We’re excited to be working side-by-side with the talented people at Valve. But for now – sleep tight, Hopoo Games.”
This is not the first time a small indie team has been absorbed into the opaque Valve hivemind. As our Eurogamer colleagues point out, Campo Santo, the creators of Firewatch, effectively canned their next adventure game In The Valley Of The Gods to go work at the studio. Even if it still has a release date of, uh, December 2029.
The dissolution of Hopoo happens in the wake of a poor reception to Risk of Rain 2’s most recent DLC. Though it should be noted that Hopoo Games aren’t the custodians of that series anymore, since they sold the rights to Gearbox in 2022. And Drummond, for one, sympathised with the Gearbox development team now working on the roguelike, saying they “did the best they could with what time and resources they were given.”
As for precisely what the (ex) Hopoo crowd will be working on, we don’t know. We know Valve is working on multiplayer shooter Deadlock, so that’s one possibility. Otherwise, there are likely other game ideas floating around the company, gaining or losing traction according to the unpredictable internal psychic weather of Valve’s offices.
Working for the big V has the reputation of being a mystery, yes, but there have been plenty of glimpses into its unusual non-hierachical management structure. That includes a video investigation by People Make Games, a company handbook that was leaked in 2012 (which might be out of date by now), and more recently an account from a marketing manager who was there in its earliest days.