Shadow Gambit developer Mimimi Games is shutting down

Nearly two weeks after the release of Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew, its developer Mimimi Games announced it'll be shutting down. 

In a blog post on the studio's website (at the time of this writing, currently down), co-founders Johannes Roth and Dominik Abé admitted to burnout amongst its staff, adding that with Shadow Gambit now out into the world, they decided the best step would be to end things now for the sake of their health. 

"Dedicating the past decade and a half of our lives working on increasingly ambitious games took a heavy personal toll on us and our families," they wrote. "We decided it was the right time to prioritize our well-being and to pull the brakes instead of signing up for another multi-year production cycle."

Mimimi consisted solely of Abé and Roth when they began working together in 2008 as game design students. As a developer, the studio's first game was 2011's daWindci for iOS, with later releases including 2016's Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun and 2020's Desperados III.

Over the next several months, Mimimi will wind down operations and help its employees find other work. The studio will continue to support Shadow Gambit during this time, and a bonus received during its development will be distributed amongst the staff to help them during the transition. 

Closing their statement, Roth and Abé noted that Mimimi had a "really good run," and thanked its community and investors. "And while we don’t know what the future will hold for the both of us, we still love video games."

Ahead of Shadow Gambit's release, Game Developer spoke to Mimimi's design head Moritz Wagner on the joys of save scumming, which you can read here.