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Zynga shuts down Torchlight dev Echtra Games
Esports

Zynga shuts down Torchlight dev Echtra Games

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Zynga has announced the closure of its subsidiary Echtra Games.

In a statement to IGN, the firm said the decision to shut down the Torchlight 3 developer was “part of a strategic alignment” of its “resources and priorities”.

“Zynga has made the difficult decision to cease operations at its Echtra Studio, ending the development on future titles and reducing roles,” it said.

“This decision is part of a strategic realignment of the company’s resources and priorities. We will work closely with impacted employees so they are treated with utmost respect and consideration as we navigate this difficult process.”

San Francisco-based Echtra Games was founded in 2016 by Max Schaefer. He also co-founded Blizzard North and co-created Diablo.

Following the closure of Runic Games in 2017, the Torchlight franchise was reignited by Echtra Games in 2018 with the online title Torchlight Frontiers.

Echtra Games was acquired by Zynga in 2021 for an undisclosed sum. Zynga was subsequently acquired by Take-Two Interactive in 2022.

Earlier this year, Zynga announced it was shuttering Star Wars: Hunters, developed by the firm and its subsidiary NaturalMotion.

Last October, NaturalMotion was reported to have laid off an unknown number of employees across its studios in the UK and the US.

In a statement to GamesIndustry.biz, the developer said it had made “the difficult decision to review [its] UK and US operations, which may impact a number of roles”.

“We believe these changes will help ensure that the studio is sustainable for the long term and aligned with our future development needs,” it explained.

Take-Two announced it was cutting 5% of its workers by the end of 2024, which was estimated to be around 580 people.



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Zynga shuts down Torchlight 3 developer four years after its acquisition
Game Reviews

Zynga shuts down Torchlight 3 developer four years after its acquisition

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Echtra Games, the San Francisco-based studio behind Torchlight 3, will be shut down by its owner Zynga by the end of June.

The studio, acquired by Zynga in 2021, had been working alongside NaturalMotion on another RPG, one we’ll never see. While no specific employee count is listed on the official website, the company’s LinkedIn page lists it as having 61 employees as of writing.

IGN received an official statement confirming the news, which states, “Zynga has made the difficult decision to cease operations at its Echtra studio, ending development on future titles and reducing roles. This decision is part of a strategic realignment of the company’s resources and priorities. We will work closely with impacted employees so they are treated with the utmost respect and consideration as we navigate this difficult process.”

Echtra Games was founded in 2016 by Max Schaefer, but had a history that stretched long before that. While Echtra would make Torchlight 3 it was Runic Games, another studio founded in part by Max alongside his brother Erich, that created Torchlight and Torchlight 2.

Even earlier than that, both Schaefer brothers would team up with David Brevik to found Condor in 1993. Three years later, this team would become Blizzard North, and release the original Diablo in 1997. The team would then go on to release the excellent Diablo 2 in 2000.

Many from this team, including both brothers and Brevik among others from Blizzard North, would then go on to found Flagship Studios, releasing the rad action-RPG Hellgate London in 2007. So there’s a lot of history behind Echtra Games, a real legacy, tragically cut short today.



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Torchlight 3
Product Reviews

Torchlight 3 studio Echtra Games, acquired by Zynga in 2021 to help it move into PC and console gaming, is being closed without doing that

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Four years after acquiring the studio, Zynga has confirmed with IGN that Torchlight 3 developer Echtra Games is being closed.

“Zynga has made the difficult decision to cease operations at its Echtra studio, ending development on future titles and reducing roles,” the company told the site. “This decision is part of a strategic realignment of the company’s resources and priorities. We will work closely with impacted employees so they are treated with the utmost respect and consideration as we navigate this difficult process.”

Echtra was founded in 2016 by Max Schaefer, one of the co-founders of original Torchlight developer Runic Games and also a co-founder of Diablo studio Blizzard North. The studio’s initial focus was on Torchlight Frontiers, envisioned as an MMO, but in 2020, after “feedback [from testers], discussing with our internal teams, and receiving guidance from our publisher,” Echtra announced a shift to a more conventional standalone game design, and a new title, Torchlight 3.


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Unfortunately, Torchlight 3 lacked the magic of the previous games in the series. While the original Torchlight was an outstanding lightweight action-RPG in 2009 (I played it a lot), Torchlight 3 was “mechanically sound,” we said in our 60% review, but “bland compared to the other options” available in 2020. Its free-to-play roots were also a little too visible in places, with systems “you’d expect to find in a predatory mobile game.”

Less than six months after Torchlight 3’s release, Zynga acquired Echtra, a move CEO Frank Gibeau said would help the mobile-focused company become more of a force in PC and console gaming. Echtra’s first game under the Zynga banner was meant to be a cross-platform RPG developed in partnership with Zynga’s NaturalMotion studio, but the project never made it past that initial announcement.

Notably, the end of Echtra comes less than three months after Zynga, a division of Take-Two Interactive, announced the looming shutdown of NaturalMotion’s Star Wars: Hunters game, a move that also saw the cancellation of its planned release on Steam.

Take-Two laid off roughly 5% of its workforce in April 2024, and in November sold off its indie-style Private Division publishing division and most of its associated games. Take-Two’s share price also took a bit of a tumble (but don’t worry, it bounced back quite nicely) when the company announced the delay of Grand Theft Auto 6 from a planned release in fall 2025 to May 26, 2026—on consoles. A PC version still hasn’t been confirmed.



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