Former Sony Online Entertainment boss’s Pixelmage Games studio shuts down

The Hero’s Song isn’t over until the rubenesque hero lady sings.

Pixelmage Games, the studio responsible for Hero’s Song, has shut down, according to a post on the company’s website. Hero’s Song was an open-world roguelike set in a fantasy role-playing world. It debuted in November on Steam’s Early Access program after holding an IndieGogo campaign, but Pixelmage revealed that early sales weren’t strong enough to justify ongoing investment and development. Studio founder John Smedley, previously best known for overseeing Everquest publisher Sony Online Entertainment (before it became Daybreak Games), noted that the company will disband but he plans to continue working in the games industry.

“It’s with a heavy heart that I have to report that Pixelmage Games is going to be shutting down and we have ceased development on Hero’s Song,” reads a post on the Pixelmage Games site. “For the last year, our team has worked tirelessly to make the game we’ve dreamed about making, and with your support, and the support of our investors, we were able to get the game into Early Access. Unfortunately sales fell short of what we needed to continue development. We knew going in that most startups don’t make it, and as an indie game studio we hoped we would be the exception to that rule, but as it turned out we weren’t.”

In a post on his personal Facebook page, Smedley said he isn’t sorry about how Pixelmage’s journey ended.

“By now, some of you may have heard about our company shutting down,” Smedley wrote. “Please don’t put a single ‘sorry’ on my page because I’m not sorry. Not for a second. Life is about the journey, and I’ve got many games to make, and the team had been taken care of. There is no need to wish us luck because we make our own life in life., and I’m all about building teams and games with people I respect. That’s not going to change. So stay tuned. I’m not one to sit still even for a second.”