The studio behind Greedfall and its sequel is getting wiped off the map, and workers aren't buying the "business reasons" excuse. According to Rock Paper Shotgun, the French union Syndicat des Travailleureuses du Jeu Vidéo (STJV) has issued a scorching statement claiming that Spiders' liquidation is "a premeditated and deliberate choice by Nacon's management." That's not a bug report - that's a war declaration.
For those not caught up on the lore, Spiders is the Paris-based RPG developer that built a loyal fanbase through titles like Greedfall, a game that punched way above its budget with its colonial-era fantasy setting. They were mid-development on Greedfall 2 when publisher Nacon pulled the plug and sent the whole studio to the respawn screen - permanently.
The STJV isn't just venting into the void, either. They're calling for a full boycott of Nacon, which means putting that publisher on your personal blocklist. Given that Nacon also publishes games like Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown and has its fingers in plenty of other pies, that's a fairly spicy ask - but one the union seems dead serious about.
What makes this situation especially grim is the "premeditated" framing. If the union's read is accurate, this wasn't a studio that ran out of HP after a tough fight - it was a deliberate execution by the people holding the respawn tokens. That's the kind of corporate final boss move that leaves a bad taste no amount of day-one patches can fix.
The gaming industry has been on a rough losing streak lately when it comes to studio closures, and Spiders joins a long and depressing hall of fame of developers who never got to ship their final project. Greedfall 2 was in Early Access on Steam, meaning players who already bought in are now sitting on an unfinished game with no dev team to finish it.
Whether the boycott gains traction remains to be seen, but the STJV is putting the receipts on the table and naming names. Keep an eye on this one - it's far from a game over screen for the discourse around it.
