Deliver Us Mars developer Keoken Interactive has laid off the majority of its staff after struggling to secure funding or future work during GDC 2024.The company announced the news via a statement co-written by managing director Paul Deetman and CEO Keon Deetman (pictured above), which was then shared on the studio's social media channels.The pair wrote that the team had been let go due to "nothing substantial materialising directly after our visit to GDC," adding: "We’ve unfortunately exhausted all our possible options for publishing, work for hire, and co-development."The statement suggests that Keoken will continue to operate with just the Deetmans on staff.
GamesIndustry.biz has reached out for clarification.The co-founders said they are "heartbroken" by the situation and calling for help finding new roles for the affected team."Paul and I are heavily beat, but far from beaten," the statement continued. "It’s our personal mission to rebuild KeokeN brick by brick like we’ve done before, in the name of our people and to continue the legacy of our games."The Deetmans are currently preparing a Kickstarter campaign for Deliver Us Home, the next entry in the series that began with 2018's Deliver Us The Moon.Keoken once employed 45 people but by March 2024 had scaled down to 20.
Game Developer reported that four members we let go that month, while the studio prepared its 'last resort': publishing details of five prototypes it was working on and a video calling for funding and support, which the studio asked its community to share ahead of GDC.We spoke to Keon Deetman about the studio's struggles and the state of the industry last month, where he told us he and Paul had gone without a salary for several months, but it still had not resolved the studio's situation.