Correction: A previous version of this article implied that Tequila Works were the developers of The Sexy Brutale. In fact, it was originally developed by Cavalier Game Studios. Tequila Works are the publishers of the game and are also listed as “co-developers” on Steam. Very sorry for the mistake!
Original article: The studio behind sunny third-person adventure Rime has filed for insolvency, with the heads of the studio quitting their roles. Tequila Works had their funding from Tencent pulled at some point, according to Eurogamer Spain, leaving the company without an important flow of cash. Which may explain why they cancelled a game last month and laid off some of their workers. It now looks like that was just the first sign of a more serious problem which has sadly resulted in the dissolution of the studio.
Founders Raúl Rubio and Luz Sancho have left their positions at the company following the insolvency filing, leaving it in the hands of former Chief Operating Officer Térence Mosca, who is now acting as general manager. Mosca says the insolvency is the result of “prolonged market conditions”.
“Since its founding in 2009, Tequila Works’ game-development philosophy has always focused on ‘creating things with gusto’,” he said in a statement to Gameindustry.biz. “We are doing everything we can to provide support and guidance to our teams during this difficult time.”
But remaining workers are still expected to “fulfil their responsibilities” according to sources Eurogamer.es spoke to (translated via Google). I’m not sure what responsibilities really matter under these conditions, especially when the studio concedes they may not be in a position to pay the salaries of those workers. But that’s the line management seem to be putting out.
The layoffs last month saw the axing of “a small number of roles” the studio said in a post on LinkedIn, which also announced the cancellation of that unannounced game. They noted it was “an incredibly difficult time” at the studio. In 2022 Tencent became a majority shareholder of the company, which was welcomed by studio management at the time. But in this instance, that corporate consolidation has not helped the studio in the long term.
Aside from the human cost of all this, it means a studio who made some great games will now likely soon be dust. “I’ve had such a splendid time with Rime,” said John (RPS in peace) in our review, “[and] so deeply enjoyed its expansive and sumptuous world.” Tequila Works were also the publishers of time loop murder mystery The Sexy Brutale, developed by Cavalier Game Studios, which Alice B (also RPS in peace) once called “a very clever interlocking thing of beauty”.