Flaming Fowl confirms new project, lay-offs and pause in development with one update

Indie studio Flaming Fowl announced new project Ironmarked yesterday (April 23) but also confirmed development had paused and staff had been let go due to the “lack of funding” in the game industry.

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Flaming Fowl was set up in 2016 “from the ashes of the renowned Lionhead Studios” with developers having previously worked on the original Fable trilogy. Since then, the studio has released Fable-themed card game Fable Fortunes as well as the digital adaptation of board game Gloomhaven.

“Our company goal is to build deep and interesting strategic experiences with fascinating twists and a healthy dose of humour,” reads the Flaming Fowl website.

Yesterday, Flaming Fowl confirmed their latest project was Ironmarked, a one-three player co-op RPG with turn-based combat set in a mediaeval fantasy world inspired by Renaissance Italy, and shared a demo on Steam. However, the studio also shared a blog post that confirmed “there’s good news and there’s bad news”.

Today we are simultaneously releasing a demo of a new game and announcing that production has been put on hold due to the lack of funding in the industry.

— Flaming Fowl Studios (@FlamingFowl) April 23, 2024

“Unfortunately, due to the current lack of funding in the games industry, we are putting production [of Ironmarked] on hold and have had to downsize the studio, letting go of some amazing people,” said the blog, with over 20 members of staff reportedly let go.

“Although this is a difficult and sad time for everyone involved, we are very proud of what we were creating and want to share that with all of you. We also hope that by releasing this demo, we can help those people leaving us to secure new roles elsewhere, by demonstrating their outstanding work on the project. Hopefully, with enough wishlists on Steam, we will be able to find funding in the future for Ironmarked, but until then we will be working on a smaller game that we can fully fund ourselves,” the post continued.

In an interview with VGC, Flaming Fowl CEO Craig Oman confirmed that Ironmarked had been unexpectedly dropped by a publisher last summer and the studio had been self-funding the development since August. “We’ve been pitching to publishers since then, but they all said, ‘the game looks great, the team looks great, but we’re not signing anything right now’,” he explained.

“We’re being very clear in the messaging in the demo that the project has been put on hold because of the financial situation in the industry. If players want to help bring it back to life, then the best thing to do is to Wishlist it on Steam,” he added.

In other news, players are rediscovering a Total War: Shogun 2 mod that takes place in the same time period as hit FX show Shōgun