Heart Machine

...

I worked closely with on our Heart Machine, uh, series.

And I feel like I should also mention, um, uh, my thoughts go out to everyone at Heart Machine.

Alex Preston put out a, um, a post a number of days ago saying that the studio was basically laying everyone off, and they were worried about the future of the, you know, what Heart Machine could be in the future.

Um, I think people understand that we were embedded for the Hyper Light, uh, Breaker stuff, and that at a certain point, it became quite difficult to continue that series because to do so would require us to talk to people who had been left off in previous, um, let go in previous, uh, uh, layoffs.

And, you know, when you're doing this type of work, it's, it's not...

Perhaps a more brave filmmaker would, would take a swing at some of this stuff, but Um, you know, I've, uh, I've, I've, I've stre- I've stretched myself where I've needed to with stuff like Door Fortress and, and, you know, Disco to a certain extent, and lots of stuff we've worked on in the past, like, uh, Astroneer, uh, Jeremy.

We did all that stuff.

We got some updates there.

Developer Heart Machine has all but closed its doors.

Build a Rocket Boys Bizarre Saga approaches its end.

And Grand Theft Auto 6 is getting a soundtrack on physical media.

i'll buy a physical version you gotta jake just got really excited for a second

i'll be right back i'll be right back

all right well i'm going to talk about my story while jake runs to get whatever collectible he wants to show off Heart Machine is the studio that is most famous for the game Hyper Light Drifter, which I have purchased.

Never played it.

So that appears to be happening.

Also, Heart Machine appear to have laid off the majority of their staff of Hyper Light Drifter, which is, yeah, sort of a shame.

And also, and then just after we recorded, I think it was, IGN also have laid off like multiple departments and a lot of people that have been there for quite a long time have also been let go at this stage, which is, yeah, awful.

basically

yeah I mean the IGN one it's like guys if you're not making money at this point you fucking own everything now yeah I don't

know

it's just bizarre like the the heart machine stuff It's obviously heartbreaking because, you know, huge Hyper Light Drifter fan, but obviously being completely honest, they've never quite recaptured that.

Solar Ash was very good, but it wasn't the same sort of thing.

Because what, what I've been thinking about this story and okay, I guess the fact that it's the first game probably makes the impact bigger, but we are in a time now of such fine margins where a failed game is, can pull down the studio whereas before you know companies used to churn games out all the times you know on cheaper so i guess this is just a sign of the times that you really can't afford to to have a failed game it's it's it's real trial by trial by fire now

yeah absolutely uh and and build a rocket boy that you lay that along with some pretty bad business practices from what it sounds like it's not you're not in for a happy time crunch bad practices monitoring stuff all those sorts of things just doesn't make a healthy environment okay but what about a studio that did have a bit of a a cult hit so hyper light drifter so the studio behind that may not survive So Heart Machine laid off nearly its entire staff this week after a publisher pulled out of an unannounced and funded project.

Studio head Alex Preston broke the news on LinkedIn, which is, you know, another sad thing.

Hyper Light Drifter, I've not played it, I have to admit, but I know it was a much loved game and it has built up a bit of a following.

They serve a part of the market, right? But it's just every week we're seeing this and we have been saying that for a number of weeks, but it's when you have these, well, in the first example, kind of new company, but these companies where they're struggling just because of, yeah, it's tough,

tough, really tough.

Yeah, Alex Preston said on LinkedIn right now, I'm not sure yet how or if Heart Machine survives.

He did say the studio will keep pushing to build a path, but there's no concrete plan yet.

And then I kind of want to lump this together with the next story as well, which is a similar scenario.

Heart Machine, the developers of Hyper Light Drifter and Hyper Light Breaker.

Yeah, just a

bummer.

But yeah,

it's...

Heart's going out to those over at Heart Machine and also Build a Rocket Boy.

Hopefully it...

Friggin' layoffs.

IGN and Heart Machine.

Yeah, that's

crazy.

so strange

Yeah, it's brutal.

Another round of layoffs from Hyperlite Drifter Studio Heart Machine.

Full disclosure, Isla knows some of these humans.

More Bummer Studio news to end, and this one hits really hard, actually.

Heart Machine, the studio behind Hyper Light Drifter and Solar Ash, may be at risk of closing after laying off almost their entire staff.

Studio head Alex Preston took to LinkedIn to explain that the studio has been working on an unannounced title with a publisher attached, but quote, this week they decided to no longer move forward with it.

Without this key income for the studio, any other immediate prospects or other funds, nearly everyone at the studio had to be laid off.

It's devastating, end quote.

Preston went on to detail that the affected staff would be given as much help as possible by the studio to help find new jobs.

This is not the first time that Heart Machine has suffered cuts.

In October of 2025, a number of layoffs occurred in conjunction with the team ending development on their Hyper Light Drifter sequel, Hyper Light Breaker.