Vlambeer, the indie studio behind beloved games such as Super Crate Box, Nuclear Throne, and Ridiculous Fishing, is shutting down. The developer, which celebrates its 10th anniversary today, announced the news on Twitter. “We had a beautiful run, made incredible games, and worked with amazing people, but it is time for new things,” the developer said. “So we’re announcing the end of Vlambeer.”
The Dutch studio was founded in 2010 by Jan Willem Nijman and Rami Ismail and has been a stalwart of the indie community. Vlambeer has been especially vocal on issues of game clones; Ismail is a well-known advocate within the community for topics like diversity and independent development. “It’s not a sad day for us, but the happy conclusion to a whirlwind decade filled with screenshake,” the developer said in a follow-up tweet. “It feels like we’ve achieved what we set out to do — as a studio, as a voice, and as individuals, and we are extremely grateful for these past years.”
Today marks Vlambeer’s 10th anniversary, which is way longer than we could’ve ever imagined. We had a beautiful run, made incredible games, and worked with amazing people, but it is time for new things. So we’re announcing the end of Vlambeer. pic.twitter.com/jZ4dMGxNV2
— Vlambeer (@Vlambeer) September 1, 2020
The developer still intends to release its upcoming arcade game, Ultrabugs, and is currently holding a Steam sale in celebration of its decade of development. In an interview with The Verge’s sister site Polygon, Ismail said the pair’s intent was to run the studio for as long as they needed “to have a chance in the games industry and do our thing.” Ultimately, he told the publication, ending after 10 years was “right” for the studio. “It’s a little overdramatic,” Ismail said. “Nobody does it.”