Celeste developer Extremely OK Games cancels Earthblade
The developer behind Celeste, Extremely OK Games, has announced that it is cancelling its next project which had previously been revealed as Earthblade. The game was first announced during the Game Awards in 2022. The cancellation follows in the wake of disagreements between the core team, and the pressure that has been felt to try and create something bigger than Celeste. Going forward, the focus will be on smaller scale projects. The full statement from Maddy of Extremely OK Games can be read below.
Hey everyone, I’ve got some sad news today to ring in 2025. Late last month, Noel and I made the difficult decision to cancel Earthblade. Yes, we are opening the year with a huge, heartbreaking, and yet relieving failure. I want to outline in this post what lead to this decision, and what it means for the future of EXOK.
Before I get into it however, I want to acknowledge that this news will likely come as a shock to fans who have been eagerly anticipating the game. We made this decision in December and felt it best to wait until now to announce it. For us on the inside we’ve had some time to process, grieve, and work toward accepting this, although that process is nonlinear and still ongoing. For those only reading this now who might be emotionally invested in this project, we’re sorry to disappoint you.
Earlier this year, a fracture began forming in the team. Specifically, this was between us (Noel & I) and Pedro, a founding member of EXOK, longtime friend & collaborator, and art director of Earthblade and pixel/ui artist on Celeste and TowerFall. The conflict centered around a disagreement about the IP rights of Celeste, which we won’t be detailing publicly – this was obviously a very difficult and heartbreaking process. We eventually reached a resolution, but both parties also agreed in the end that we should go our separate ways. Pedro is now working on his game Neverway, which you should check out – we’ve played it and it’s very promising.
Losing Pedro wasn’t
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