Nuclear Throne Studio Vlambeer Close Down, But Happily

Vlambeer, the folks behind Serious Sam: Random Encounter, Luftrausers, Super Crate Box, and perhaps most famously Nuclear Throne, just had its 10th anniversary the other day. And to celebrate, they’ve decided to close their doors.

Which, surprisingly for a story like this, isn’t actually a bad thing. As studio members Rami Ismail and Jan Willem Nijman explained on Twitter:

It's not a sad day for us, but the happy conclusion to a whirlwind decade filled with screenshake. It feels like we've achieved what we set out to do - as a studio, as a voice, and as individuals, and we are extremely grateful for these past years.

So it’s not that they’re doing poorly and they need to shut down — rather, they’ve decided that their studio has run its course and it’s time to move on to bigger and brighter shores. So it’s the rare case of a studio closing down because it wants to, not because it has to. And that’s… kind of heartwarming, I suppose.

To celebrate the two occasions of the anniversary and the closure, they’re having a big farewell sale over on Steam, where you can grab the games that made them famous for pretty cheap. They’ve also released a prototype for a game they won’t be finishing called FFFLOOD, which is, and I quote, “a game about dropping 10-ton cannons from orbit all for terrible corporate glory.” Finally, they assured fans that in spite of their closing, they still plan to release their long-awaited title ULTRABUGS and to support their old games however necessary, but they won’t be putting out any new ones.

So while it is a kind of sad day, with a well-loved developer deciding to hang up their hats, it is important to remember that all things must end sooner or later. Better that they got to end on their terms and in their way than for something to force their hand.