Thursday, September 17, 2026. Gaming outlets picked up a message Heart Machine founder Alx Preston posted on LinkedIn the day before. The verdict fits in one sentence. Nearly everyone at the studio behind Hyper Light Drifter just lost their job. The immediate cause is simple. A publisher pulled the funding for an unannounced game that week, and without that income, the studio couldn’t afford to keep its team.
‘Nearly everyone’: Alx Preston’s announcement
Nintendo Life, Jim Norman, September 17, 2026. The headline quotes Alx Preston’s own words, « It’s devastating. »
Alx Preston’s message, picked up by PC Gamer (Andy Chalk) and by Kotaku (Ethan Gach), leaves little room for doubt. « We had been working on an unannounced title, funded by a publisher. This week, they decided to no longer move forward with it. Without this key income for the studio, any other immediate prospects or other funds, nearly everyone at the studio had to be laid off. It’s devastating. »
Preston isn’t closing the door, but he isn’t holding it open either. Asked about the studio’s future, he gave Kotaku an even blunter line. « Right now, I’m not sure yet how or if Heart Machine survives. » He still promises support for the laid-off staff, including help finding new roles elsewhere in the industry.
Heart Machine, a studio already running on empty
Game Informer, Charles Harte, September 17, 2026.
These layoffs aren’t hitting a studio in good health. Heart Machine made its name in 2016 with Hyper Light Drifter, a self-published, critically acclaimed pixel-art action RPG. Five years later, in December 2021, Solar Ash shifted gears with a 3D platformer published by Annapurna Interactive. Since then, the trajectory has darkened.
Hyper Light Breaker, a loot-based roguelite, entered Early Access in January 2025 under publisher Arc Games. Sales disappointed. In October 2025, the studio announced it was ending development, alongside a first round of layoffs. The game never got its 1.0 release and, a year later, remains stuck in Early Access on Steam. That same year brought Possessor(s), a Metroidvania published by Devolver Digital that capped out at 71 on Metacritic and drew criticism for its clunky controls. Its launch was also preceded by a second round of layoffs, also in October 2025, according to PC Gamer.
A symptom, not an isolated accident
PC Gamer, Andy Chalk, September 16, 2026. The first major outlet to pick up Alx Preston’s LinkedIn post.
Heart Machine’s story fits a pattern kami-labs.fr has documented several times this year. A studio that depends on a single outside partner to fund its survival collapses the day that partner walks away, no matter how good its work is. Polyarc closed two months after shipping its last game, Moss: The Forgotten Relic. Sega shut down Rovio Copenhagen three years after buying it for 706 million euros. Intrepid Studios, the maker of Ashes of Creation, is now under court-ordered receivership in the United States.
Heart Machine doesn’t have a parent company to blame for a shutdown. It has a publisher that changed its mind, weeks before an expected payment. For the staff, the outcome is the same either way. A game that wasn’t even public yet was enough to shake eleven years of existence.
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