The creators of Risk of Rain went to work for Valve and abandoned their next game

The American studio Hopoo Games, known for the roguelite series Risk of Rain and the stealth action game Deadbolt, announced the suspension of activities due to the transfer of some employees to Valve.

Image source: Gearbox Publishing

Valve has reportedly hired Hopoo Games founders Paul Morse and Duncan Drummond, along with “many other” talented studio employees.

Hopoo Games is “incredibly grateful” to Valve for its many years of collaboration and “excited to continue working on their amazing games,” but is forced to stop production of its own project, codenamed Snail.

Deadbolt was released in 2016 (image source: Hopoo Games)

Hopoo Games was founded in 2012 by Morse and Drummond. After the release of Risk of Rain 2 (2020), the studio sold the rights to the franchise to Gearbox, and itself took on a game unrelated to the series.

«These 12 years have been exciting and transformative. We are fortunate to have this opportunity and are deeply grateful to the team and fans for supporting us and our games,” said Hopoo Games.

In 2023, Hopoo Games released Risk of Rain Returns, a remake of the original Risk of Rain (Image source: Gearbox Publishing)

You can’t expect anything from Hopoo Games in the coming years: “We love making games and will continue to do so in the future. We’re excited to work alongside the talented people at Valve. But for now, sleep tight, Hopoo Games.”

In April 2018, Valve acquired Campo Santo – the creators of Firewatch were then preparing the adventure In the Valley of Gods for release, but in 2019 the game was shelved, and since then nothing has been heard about it or the team.