GreedFall Studio Spiders' Closure May Be the RPG Middle Class Disappearing

Greedfall: The Dying World is one of the biggest disappointments of 2026. It's not a terrible game, but based on how good the original was, it definitely was let down in more ways than one. And while that disappointment hits hard for fans of the series, it has hit even harder for the beloved Spiders studio.

They've now been closed down for good, and it's a sign of the state of the industry and a warning to other mid-level studios that are in the midst of trying to build a series or an IP themselves. It's a tragedy, though, because Spiders is responsible for some of the best RPGs out there, keeping alive the spirit of old BioWare games after that studio long jumped the shark.

Let's take a look at what happened with the ultra-promising GreedFall and why the failures are a warning shot that needs to be heard around the world.

Who Spiders Was

Spiders, for those unfamiliar, has long been a studio taking stabs at unique RPGs. Some of the more well-known ones in their lexicon are Bound by Flame, one of my favorites in The Technomancer, and, of course, their biggest success, GreedFall. Their style of game embraced the early BioWare teachings of choice and consequence to a degree that is really quite impressive, but the games have nonetheless always been held back by a double-A budget.

But these games were still important, because they'd often appear in the years that the bigger companies were busy cooking their games. I remember waiting for the next Mass Effect to come out, and in the meantime, seeing The Technomancer deliver a rock-solid sci-fi RPG with really fun combat and a strange and unique story that felt like nothing else out at the time. And in 2019, when so many companies in the RPG space laid dormant, GreedFall came along to shock the world, delivering an excellent RPG that had its own world, tons of lore and personality, and some awesome characters and enemies to face off against.

Spiders might not have been the studio with the most anticipated games, but they were a studio that had the games that you'd play while you'd wait for that game, and, occasionally, would be the studio that gave you games that made you wonder, "How come Triple A studios don't do it this well?" They've been an important complementary player in the gaming space for over a decade, and to see them shut down right after releasing the next game in their star franchise is incredibly disappointing to say the least.

The Rise of Greed, the Fall of Passion

Nacon closed the door shut on Spiders following the incredibly poor sales and reviews of GreedFall: The Dying World, and while plenty never experienced how good GreedFall was, we're losing one of the better IPs to come out in recent years. GreedFall might've been "We have Dragon Age at home" for many, but why did we ever act like that was a bad thing? The world was vibrant, unique, and had some great characters with an interesting story and some decent combat as well.

It wasn't the next Witcher or anything like that, but it was the only colonial-style RPG I've personally seen, and it was great to see that old-school, BioWare-style, party-based RPG that pulled no punches and wasn't afraid to be brutal or offensive. Do you know how long it's been since we've had another game in that vein? Seven years. The last game like that? GreedFall itself. So losing such a gem and a company along with it is just a double whammy. Games like this are simply not made anymore.

But why did the sequel fail? Well, having played a handful of hours into it, it starts off terribly, completely changes a combat system that should've stayed the same, and kind of feels like nothing in it matters because it's a prequel.

That was the big miss there. The world of GreedFall needed a next chapter. It needed another game with your De Sardet. He should've been the Commander Shepard of this series and was well on his way, but something at Spiders made them shift the entire genre of the game, and the result is an experience that feels a bit archaic in the gameplay department, and the main character is not nearly as charming or compelling as De Sardet on top of that.

Spiders should've seen this coming early. They've been in Early Access for years now and heard the feedback about the gameplay and have done little to change their fate in that regard. They stuck to their guns, and in this situation, it was a bad move, as it alienated a ton of fans from the first game while failing to be compelling enough in other sections to make up for it.

What Their Dissolution Signals

With the end of Spiders comes a sign of bigger problems for all studios that sit in that mid-level space. Because now, you can't slip up if you're a smaller developer controlled by something larger, such as Nacon. You don't have any leeway for a disappointing release, and what makes that even tougher is that smaller studios generally have far fewer people, yet are expected to have graphics as good as Triple A, scale as big as Triple A, and production value as big as Triple A.

The worrisome part is that Spiders had a big hit. They should've had a bit of space to mess up, but the decision to go Early Access from the start with GreedFall: The Dying World was a big mistake. It worked for Baldur's Gate 3, but it's always a risky move, signaling to fans that the product isn't the most confident in its execution and needs fan input to do what it ultimately should. Failing to address that input was not a good sign.

But it's a move many smaller studios go for. It's one that allows a more calm development time as fans can play along as the game is being made, but it's also one that demands results along the way, and especially at the end of the development cycle.

What will mid-level studios do now with Spiders not surviving? How can they confidently develop a game knowing that even if they nail it with a hit, they could be dissolved in just a few years after? You're almost better off creating tiny indie titles, because then, big publishers won't latch on and suddenly demand the world from you despite giving you no more than a small patch of land to work with.

That confidence to achieve your vision is now riskier than ever.

You can have your once-in-a-blue-moon mega success stories like Sandfall with Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, but for other mid-level studios that don't have the budget to hire Hollywood actors or outsource at the level they did, you're flying above an active volcano hoping it won't erupt.

It feels more and more like the mid-level studios are in danger of being erased in the way Spiders was, and we'll be left with small indie titles and Triple A experiences, losing the ever-important decent game from the gaming world and leaving us to appreciate that charming Double A jank only in games from our past.

Released September 10, 2019

ESRB M For Mature 17+ due to Blood, Language, Partial Nudity, Suggestive Themes, Violence

Developer(s) Spiders

Engine Silk Engine