Jukai Studios, the developer of 2023’s Stray Souls, has announced that they are officially shutting down. The announcement comes off the heels that their publisher, Versus Evil, was closing as well after more than 10 years in operation. The studio, which apparently consisted of only two developers, released a statement on X, which discloses the issues of running the studio, failing expectations on their title, and dealing with constant cyberbullying. Stray Souls was critically panned by reviewed and players alike, making it one of the worst reviewed Steam titles of 2023.
As you can see in the statement above, Jukai actually reveals that the studio has only ever been “two core individuals”, as well as some “contracted individuals.” Why the studio, or their publisher never revealed this in any way shape or form prior to this moment is unknown, but it certainly paints a much grimmer image of what the overall development process might’ve been for Stray Souls. They also mention a “cyber persecutor,” and that the matter is now in the “hands of our lawyers.”
As we mentioned earlier, Stray Souls was not exactly the smash hit that both the studio or the fans were hoping for. The game currently has an unfortunately low score on Metacritic and a”Mostly Negative” rating on Steam. As for Versus Evil, they actually still have some titles that are still due to be published. This includes Monolith: Requiem of the Ancients, Lil’ Guardsman, Tamarak Trail, and Broken Roads. As of this writing, their status is not known, and it’s entirely possible that the studios behind those titles will face a similar fate as Jukai. Let’s hope that someone comes in and picks them up so that they can see the light of day.