Developer of cozy tea shop adventure Wanderstop is shutting down: ‘It’s a particularly tough time for raising game funds’

Developer Ivy Road, maker of last year’s cozy tea shop adventure Wanderstop, is shutting down, the studio announced today.

Calling the announcement “bittersweet,” the developer said that its doors will be closing as of March 31. “It’s hard to put into words how thankful we are to have been able to work together on Wanderstop—this is an incredible group of people!”

Wanderstop (here’s our 84% review) was Ivy Road’s first and now only game, representing a collaboration between the creative voices of several celebrated creators: it was written by Davey Wrenden of The Stanley Parable and Karla Zimonja of Tacoma, and featured music composed by C418 of Minecraft.

The closure of Ivy Road follows layoffs of several members of the team in late January after the studio failed to secure funding for a new project called Engine Angel.

“While we tried to shop the concept around and find a publishing partner, unfortunately we weren’t able to land a deal,” Ivy Road said. “It’s a particularly tough time for raising game funds, so while we weren’t necessarily surprised, we are disappointed that we won’t be able to bring Engine Angel to life together as a team.”

You can see a bit of Engine Angel, which was created by animator Liz Caingcoy, in this Bluesky thread.

Wanderstop will remain for sale on the platforms it’s available on, and there may be some news to come: “There’s still one last surprise brewing, one we’ve been working on for the last year to help find a way for Wanderstop to reach new players,” Ivy Road said. “The great folks at Annapurna Interactive will be sharing more news about this in the future, and we’re looking forward to you all seeing what it is!”

“We are so proud that we got to create something together as a team that was ultimately experienced by hundreds of thousands of players,” Ivy Road said. “We hope that you’re inspired to create something of your own someday, whether art, music, writing, or even a video game of your own.”