Paradox Interactive and Harebrained Schemes have announced that the two companies will be parting ways. This comes after Paradox expressed disappointment with the performance of The Lamplighters League. Paradox had acquired the company in 2018.
This is all kind of shocking to me, simply because it doesn’t seem like that long ago that Harebrained Schemes was acquired. However, following the launch of The Lamplighters League, Paradox said that they’d be taking a write-down on the production, as they don’t expect to recoup the development costs. Destructoid’s own Steven “Big Lifter” Mills has a pretty great write-up of that here.
Charlotta Nilsson, CCO of Paradox said, “We and HBS’ leadership have been discussing what would happen after the release of The Lamplighters League, but a new project or sequel in the same genre was not in line with our portfolio plans. Hence, we believe that a separation would be the best way forward.”
Meanwhile, Harebrained Schemes expects to continue supporting The Lamplighters League through the end of the year and will be seeking partnerships and funding beyond that.
A different strategy
Harebrained Schemes was founded in 2011 by Shadowrun creator Jordan Weissman along with Mechassault producer Mitch Gitelman. The company seemed to be set on revisiting FASA’s old properties, being known for the Shadowrun Returns trilogy and Battletech. However, following the acquisition in 2018, Weissman left the company.
The Lamplighters League is a new property from the developer, but following lukewarm reviews, it has not performed to expectations. Personally, I’m puzzled by it. I have always kept one eye on Harebrained Schemes (mostly with hopes of another Shadowrun title), but I had no idea that The Lamplighters League was even launching. While many of the game’s features have been called over-ambitious, much of the community’s complaints seem to be about technical issues and day-one DLC. Those sound like publisher problems.
Nonetheless, I’m hoping this isn’t the last we see of Harebrained Schemes. This outcome is at least better than the company being shuttered outright.
