Hello Everybody.
I hope you are all doing well. It has been a while since I last posted an update on Panther VR. A lot of stuff happened the last few months, including some that are not so fun. I’ve missed the community surrounding Panther VR, and it's good to finally have the time to write another update. However, this update is also one of the hardest I’ve ever written. Since it is also the one that brings some heavy news.
The end of Wolfdog
It may not come as a surprise that the last few years have been a hard one. The moment we started Panther, we were at a pretty stable moment. We finished our work on our previous game (Skyworld) and we had big plans for Panther VR. The future of VR looked bright and business was going well. We launched the crowdfunding campaign for Panther VR, and it was well received. We had some funding to work on the first version, and we received a lot of support from the community and people around me.
But then Covid struck. It was something that somebody could expect. While I can count myself lucky as it did not affect the health of the people around me, including myself, it still took a massive hit on our production. It botched up our initial release moment and put the game in a difficult position. It was another massive blow to the game. The amazing support from our community, family and friends kept us going. I wanted to make a game that you all would love to play. So, we started a full rework with a new regeneration of headsets, software, knowledge, and funding.
Things did start to get better for Panther VR. We made some big improvements to the game with some huge updates. The quality of the game improved, and it started to look more like the game we had envisioned. We fixed a lot of issues and added a lot of new content. The new progression update would finally made it a full gaming experience. With some leftover funds, we could afford some help during the earlier updates, but after that, it was just me left as a single developer. I was too stubborn to drop the development of the game and I wanted to finish this personal project at all cost.
Unfortunately, these costs were bigger than expected. Due to dwindling funding, I had to resort to work-for-hire jobs to keep it going. While it did help for some time, it also gave me way less time to work on the game. And since I’m the only developer working on this project, it stretched out development time from what could take weeks to months.
The development went on for a while like that, but combined with some personal issues last year, it put me against a wall. Funding was depleted and time to develop the game was sometimes ever rarer. I did everything in my power to avoid it, but last month I came to the conclusion that it could no longer continue like this. The cost of living has greatly increased in the last months. This life is no longer viable for my health and living situation. That is why, with great sadness, I’m closing down Wolfdog Interactive. It is a tough decision to make, but it is the only one I can make at this time.
What will happen to Panther VR?
The closure of the studio also marks the end of my time as a developer. Unfortunately, this also ends the professional development of Panther VR. It pains me to even write it, as I’m still too stubborn to let it go. But the professional development is taking such a huge emotional and financial toll on my life, that it is not worth it anymore to continue it as a job. It would give anything to give you all a game that Panther could have been. I’m truly devastated that we did not reach that point with Wolfdog and with all the support we've gathered over the years.
However, since the professional development is officially stopping, I might still continue with the game at some point in the future when life allows me to do that. Deep down, I'm still in love with Panther, and the community that surrounds it, but it's so hard to see how I can continue in this way. The VR part it taking up so much time, that picking up the development for VR is a giant barrier to pass. Maybe a non-VR version will be the way to go forward again. Only time can tell.
The end of Wolfdog also means that there won't be any future projects. (Not that we were planning any). I'm also taking a step back from game development in general. We will close downs all social media pages, including our company website. We will leave the discord channel and email online, since some community members are still using them, and we still want to provide support for the people who are still playing the game.
Since I can't make any more development process in the short future, I find it only fair to reduce the price of Panther VR in according to what is already present. Sales will also go up to lower the price even further.
However,
How it came to be
To properly close off this chapter, I wanted to share with you why I needed to make this decision. Hopefully, it can give you an insight in what occurred. I'm always aiming to be as transparent and open as possible, so I hope that this would add to that. And maybe our experience can help another (VR)game developer, who might encounter similar problems.
Please don’t see this as a way to put the blame on something else. I will take full responsibly for the mistakes we might have made during our journey. We are all human and we are ever learning. But I want to put some things in perspective, since the life of a developer can be shrouded in mystery. It always starts by looking at yourself and your mistakes and miscalculations that you make on the way. Maybe the project was too big to begin with, our money could be better spent, or things could have been developed differently. It may be some, it may be all. It is always easier to look back at those moments. But I'm still proud of what we made, and I can honestly tell you that I have done everything that we can to make it work.
Main reason 1 - Funding
The biggest reason is funding. I’ve started making games as a hobby, but at some point are adults who need to pay bills. So, I was lucky enough to turn my hobby into work. The upside of this is that your work is awesome, but the downside is that you always need to make an earning from games to stay alive. While this was not a struggle in the beginning, it became increasingly harder with the stagnation of the VR market. We made a decent earning with side projects, and the initial funding of Panther VR gave us a bit of breathing room. But it turns out that making games can be very expensive. So much that it drained our funding harder than expected. To put things in perspective: we did not make a single cent of profit on Panther VR. The income on the game, which is already low as it is, only decreased the cost of the investment. Somehow we kept afloat for a while (still don't know how), but last year it reached a tipping point in which it would never be profitable to work on Panther VR. Only our passion and community support kept it going. Now it was never my main goal to be rich. I just wanted to make a game that I'm passioned about and share that with the world. But I was hoping, as a bare minimum, that the project could at least help me with the cost of living. Unfortunately, it never did.
Main reason 2 - (PC)VR is not going well
I’m still passionate about VR. I had the honor to work with Valve and Vertigo Games on one of the first VR games to be made for the first generation of VR headsets. I enjoy working with VR, and the initial people and influencers surrounding the VR community were amazing. I saw a bright future for VR and was happy to be a part of it. The game industry is already overcrowded, but VR was a part that was ready to be explored and to grow with. For a while, this went perfect. Sales went up, and the community was flourishing.
But as some of you might know, things are not looking like that anymore. VR is still not hitting the marks as was expected, and it does not look bright for the future as well. Sales are not increasing in a steady line. This is not only for us, but I hear the same stories from befriended VR developers. While VR usage has increased on paper, it does convey to an increase in sale. I also need to share that developing for VR is also more difficult than working on a normal game. Building mechanics for VR requires way more time and effort. While I did love to explore those new mechanics, it was not always as fun as it sounded.
It does not help at all that there are countless VR headsets out there. All with their own unique controller and input systems. This makes it even harder to build and test a game. Everything you build needs to work and be tested on a dozen of different expensive headsets. This is very difficult as a single developer with limited time and budget. And if your game does not work on all those countless headsets, pc setups and virtual desktops, it does not bode well for your game. I fully understand that people are upset when it does not properly work on their unique setup, but as a small developer, it took an unreasonable amount of work and time to make it perfect for everyone. I am not positive that this will change in the future.
I truly had fun working on our games. But I noticed, that during the last month, these negative aspects of the VR market took away all the fun and passion for VR. I’m happy for all the other developers who made it this far, and I wish all the best for VR and its community. But I know that a lot of (small) developers are struggling more than they care to admit.
Thank you all
I look back on an awesome journey with some wonderful people. Even though the last years were though, it gave me also one of the best experiences in life. I’ve had the opportunity to work with some amazing people and felt the love of a supportive community. But there comes an end to everything, and this came faster than I would have wanted it to be.
I would want to thank everyone involved in the development of the game. Big thank to friends and family who supported me since the beginning. I’m also very grateful for the wonderful community that surrounded the game over the years. They mean more to me than they might think. <3
If you have any questions regarding this news or the game, please feel free to ask. I will try to answer them all.
With that, I wish you all the best in life. Stay healthy and happy.
- Jesse