I am making the difficult decision to remove Dragonspire from Steam and disable access to the game service. Anyone who purchased Dragonspire can apply for a full refund using this link - https://store.steampowered.com/steam_refunds/ - I've also asked Valve if we can automatically refund everyone who bought the game and will follow-up if the answer is yes.
Why is this happening?
First, I don't feel we delivered on a game you should pay for. When we went live, our team did not anticipate the myriad of problems which occurred with our platform and technology. Our D1 retention for people here on launch was extraordinary, approaching 70%. However, that KPI quickly declined in the days that followed. Without stable servers, it's impossible to determine reasons for the decline - was it the server instability, lack of regional coverage, problems with the core game experience? In order to answer that question, we worked non-stop to solve our server issues with plans to expand regional coverage. However, we failed. That's not okay and we absolutely need to do better as developers. I am exploring new options for a stable platform, including third-party solutions. Unfortunately, it's a slow process and I don't want more people purchasing the game only to experience what you all have muscled through (did I mention you're the absolute best community ever? Because you are).
Second, we have exhausted our initial round of funding. This means paid team members who rely on us to support themselves and their families will need to move on to new opportunities, which I am helping facilitate. And it also means I cannot continue working on the game with a full team. There are a couple options left for us: (1) I can petition from our investor to let me continue to develop using the assets and agree to pay him back if I ever make any money from that work, or (2) I can wait for him to do well with his other studios and then take another shot when more capital is available - which our investor told me he would be open to, but obviously is far from guaranteed. I am a designer; not an engineer or an artist. Solo dev will be extremely challenging for me, but I am going to poke around over the coming months to see what I can learn and accomplish while I wind down the current business. In any event, I don't have much else lined up (risk of starting a business!) and I still believe in Dragonspire, so working toward possible solutions with all my free time makes the most sense.
I apologize for sharing this disappointing news. It's warmed my heart to be part of a supportive community and I feel awful for letting you down. Please be kind to everyone on development, this is a hard day for them. If you're a game developer and your studio is hiring, please reach out to me direct and I can share info on all our team members (we are located in the United States). If you would like to continue the gamedev journey with me, there is no better place than this Discord which we already call our home.
Thanks for your tremendous patience and kindness. I hope to have your support again in the future, wherever that may lead.
- Brian