In another sad story of crowdfunded games going south, Montréal-based studio Pixyul has cancelled development on its crowdfunded game ReROLL, an ambitious open-world game that promised to map real-world environments using drone technology.
The news comes by way of an e-mail sent to supporters this morning, explaining why ReROLL was cancelled and the struggle Pixyul went through in finding either a publisher or an investment partner.
According to the e-mail, Pixyul wasn’t able to raise the necessary funds through crowdfunding or their own personal investments, and began looking for partners or publishers who could help finance the game. After several meetings, and a verbal agreement that never manifested into a written contract, the developers say they were forced to cancel development.
“After being so close on multiple occasions, today, we have to face the fact that this rejection was our last hope to secure the necessary funding to pursue the development and complete the game,” the e-mail states.
“This is why we are officially announcing that the development of ReROLL is over.”
The only reward for players who contributed to ReROLL’s crowdfunding campaign was a key for Pixyul’s Early Access game BIOS, which is still listed on Steam. You can still view ReROLL’s storefront, but the website’s front page and the company’s social media accounts have been taken down.
ReROLL’s cancellation highlights the large risks of running independent crowdfunding campaigns that don’t come with the protections or infrastructure of platforms like Kickstarter or Indiegogo. Because ReROLL was attempting crowdfunding by selling early in-game content, its supporters didn’t have any real guaruntee about what would happen if the company stopped development.
And for the record, some of those in-game content packs were selling for as much as $275.
We’ve e-mailed Pixyul for any updates on the situation, and will revisit this story if they choose to comment.