Housemarque, the Finnish studio known mostly for its arcade-style games like Resogun and Nex Machina, has posted an update on what players can expect in 2020. This year marks Housemarque’s 25th anniversary, and it has big plans. None of those involve Stormdivers, however, which has been put on hold as the studio ramps up production on “our biggest and most ambitious title yet”, produced with the help of a yet-unnamed third-party publisher. The game has been in development for three years, and it’s now in full production under the studio’s biggest ever team - though still relatively small at 80 people.
“It is great that the whole company can come together to deliver this game, which will define the next evolution of Housemarque,” CEO Ilari Kuittinen wrote. “We’ve never delivered anything at this scale before.” You’d be forgiven for not remembering Stormdivers. The game was announced in 2018 as a battle royale shooter with a Housemarque twist. It has since been part of a number of closed tests, but the studio hasn’t updated fans on the project’s progress since. The news isn’t particularly surprising; Housemarque didn’t seem to have too much faith in Stormdivers being a success. “It is tough. Whether we’re going to succeed, it’s unlikely because of the tough competition,” Kuittinen told us at Reboot Develop last April. Hopefully, we won’t be waiting long to learn more about that mysterious project.
