Wanderstop was one among 2025’s lovelier surprises. Half tea making cozy sim, half narrative journey, it was a fairly and surprisingly poignant indie sport about residing with burnout. Now the studio behind it’s closing its doorways after failing to get funding for its subsequent sport regardless of a cool-looking prototype.
Immediately, we should share some bittersweet information: Ivy Highway is closing its doorways as of March thirty first, 2026,” Ivy Highway introduced on Friday. “It’s onerous to place into phrases how grateful we’re to have been capable of work collectively on Wanderstop – that is an unimaginable group of individuals! And whereas we had a brand new undertaking, Engine Angel, that we have been enthusiastic about, sadly the funding didn’t come to fruition and the studio needed to shut down.” Ivy Highway was cofounded in 2021 by Stanley Parable co-creator Davey Wreden with assist from writer Annapurna Interactive. In Wanderstop, gamers assist a fighter navigate her sophisticated relationship with self-worth and the pursuit of excellence by having her serve tea to an idiosyncratic bunch of characters at a dreamy Alice In Wonderland-like relaxation cease. I have been engaged on a sport pitch and story expensive to me, “ENGINE ANGEL”, with the crew at Ivy Highway! We’re nonetheless searching for funding, however within the meantime I wished everybody to nonetheless be capable of share the work they’ve completed. I will be sharing extra in addition to reposting any of the crew’s posts so keep tuned! — Liz (in search of work😁) (@lizc3d.bsky.social) 2025-12-20T20:26:49.209Z The sport acquired typically optimistic opinions at launch final yr and has a 90 % Steam evaluation person ranking, however the sport doesn’t seem to have bought properly to safe the studio’s future in an more and more dire funding panorama. Ivy Highway was pitching publishers on a prototype known as Engine Angle that appears like Twisted Metallic combined with a Platinum Video games hack-and-slash.
“Whereas we tried to buy the idea round and discover a publishing accomplice, sadly we weren’t capable of land a deal,” the studio introduced this week. “It’s a very robust time for elevating sport funds, so whereas we weren’t essentially stunned, we’re dissatisfied that we gained’t be capable of carry Engine Angel to life collectively as a crew.”
Within the meantime, Wanderstop will get one last replace to let gamers hack it and play any chapter they need with out having to do any of the busy work in-between. A code gamers enter will allow them to entry later sections of the sport on demand. Sadly, Ivy Highway isn’t the primary nor the final indie casualty we’re prone to see as the sport business tumbles towards no matter its new future finally ends up being. “We have been there within the ’80s for the crash, and that is positively crashier,” Brenda Romero lately mentioned. She and her husband, John Romero, lately discovered their very own studio on the chopping block after shock cuts from Microsoft final yr.
