It’s official, The End is Near is will be final content update for Dead Cells, with developer Motion Twin confirming the news in a post shared on Steam just before the weekend.
However, nothing escapes the Eye of Sauron and subsequent discussion and speculation on social media platforms has revealed a potentially complicated situation involving multiple parties. I’ll do my best to unpack everything for you below.
Motion Twin confirms “the end of our creative journey”
First, let’s look at the official statement shared by developer Motion Twin, who originally launched the game all the way back in 2017!
The studio’s Steam post first confirmed news regarding the likely release schedule of upcoming content updates on PC and mobile.
For the record: Update 34 is set to hit mobile versions of the game later this year, and Update 35 is still not ready for public consumption on PC, despite have been in the works for some time. It was after the progress updates that the bombshell was dropped:
Update 35 for Dead Cells marks the end of our creative journey on the game. After an incredible 5-year collaboration in bringing additional content to Dead Cells’ live-ops, Evil Empire will be pursuing new adventures and we can’t wait to see what they come up next.
This comes after much reflection, especially following the awesome success of the “Return to Castlevania” DLC last year. Our commitment to avoiding the “more of the same” trap and keeping Dead Cells fresh and original has led us to this point; as we’ve seen with other long-running series, it’s crucial not to overextend and risk diminishing the unique charm that makes Dead Cells special to us all.
This change explains the recent quiet period on updates, as concluding such a partnership required careful planning to ensure a smooth process for everyone, including the community. As always, we will of course continue to find solutions to make sure that all quality of life issues and bugs are properly fixed across all platforms to provide a worthy experience to all of you.
The post then mentioned that work on the TV series and the board game will continue – phew – and that there are more collaborations planned that will see aspects of the Dead Cells IP appear in other places (although no specifics were mentioned on that front).
Finally, the developer signed off with a wave to Evil Empire, the company that spun out of Motion Twin back when it was decided that the co-op studio didn’t want to go corporate and expand to support Dead Cells. Instead, it became clear that there was an appetite to start on something new, with that “something new” being Windblown, which was announced late last year.
There’s a lot to unravel there, but the official line is that Motion Twin wants to stop the game from going stale. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that – in fact, it’s probably a good idea – but it also seems strange when just last year it was officially communicated that Evil Empire was actively exploring new ways to expand the game.
Were the ideas that Evil Empire came up with not to the standard that Motion Twin expected and so it was decided to pull the plug on their ongoing collaboration? Or is something else happening here?
Evil Empire and the studio’s plans for ongoing support
I’ve been going back through old press releases to see if there’s any additional context and to confirm the dates that were shared by a couple of media outlets last year (one example being Push Square). According to those reports, the plan was to support Dead Cells until the end of 2025.
I couldn’t find specific dates in any of the press releases I looked at, but in June of last year it was stated that Evil Empire was looking forward to a future working on the franchise. Here’s what the official press release said early last summer:
Following the success of Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania, Evil Empire has been exploring the path forward for the title as a whole. With years of successful updates and expansions behind it after taking over live ops of Dead Cells in 2019, the studio is tinkering with its time-tested methodology, experimenting with ideas for future updates and new ways for fans to enjoy one of their favorite roguelikes.
That, to me, doesn’t sound like a studio expecting its main project to be taken offline. However, if something dramatic is going on behind the scenes, it’s not coming out of Evil Empire, who shared this statement on TwitterX:
After 5 years of service, we’re hanging up the Dead Cells coat. We’re extremely proud of our work on countless updates & DLC, but now it’s time for something shiny and new, or maybe more than one thing.
In the post there is a longer statement, which I’ve added below for your convenience. The bit that stands out for me is that the Dead Cells team has now been “unleashed” onto new “secret projects”. It certainly sounds like this move by Motion Twin wasn’t part of Evil Empire’s long-term plan.
The plot potentially thickens as speculation swirls
There’s more, though. Yet before we dive in and examine the unofficial sources, I’d suggest having a pot of salt to hand, so you can add a liberal pinch as and when required.
As I first discovered on Reddit, one of the original creators of Dead Cells, Sébastien Bénard, otherwise known as deepnight and now creating his own work at Deepnight Games, had a rather different perspective. When asked on the DS Discord server, deepnight wrote:
Since you’re asking me, I’d just say MT did the worst imaginable asshole move against Dead Cells and EE. Having seen first hand the actual situation behind the scene, I can honestly say I’m glad to not be part of this anymore. The official statement is total marketing bullshit, the way this situation happened is on a whole different level. I never imagined my former coop studio would turn out to be such greedy people. I wish the absolute best to EE for their next things, and hope people working there will survive this sudden economic cut.
Given that deepnight is at least somewhat out of the loop when it comes to internal matters, we should naturally be cautious when weighing up his opinion. That said, he does have a unique insight into the project and his assertion that the “the official statement is total marketing bullshit” probably shouldn’t be completely ignored either.
Update: Bénard has since expanded on his position in a blog on his website. There’s a ton of contextual detail in there, but the main takeaway is that there is clear respect for Evil Empire and what the studio has done for Dead Cells.
Moreover, the original lead designer of Dead Cells lends his weight to the theory that the game has been retired to make way for Windblown, the next game from Motion Twin.
So why has MT retired the game that made its name?
Of course, there’s a good chance that the game’s original creators simply consider Dead Cells to be finished. Evil Empire may have had plans to extend the game with new experiences, but if Motion Twin wasn’t excited by those plans, it would explain the split. Could it be that there was merely an irreconcilable difference of opinions as to the future direction of the IP?
That outcome might be harsh on Evil Empire as their team was seemingly primed to make more Dead Cells. However, companies part ways all the time and it’s more likely to be creative differences as opposed to some of the theories I’ve been sifting through today. Never say never, though, and I will be keeping an eye out for further developments (see the above update).
At this stage, the only things we can say with certainty are that Motion Twin has announced that there will be no more new Dead Cells content once Update 35 is done, and that Evil Empire is now developing on its own “secret projects” moving forward and will no longer be working on one of the best roguelikes ever.
