NFT project Pixelmon has officially ended all game development activities and laid off its entire gaming team. The studio closure comes shortly after performance metrics from a three-week trial with an external publisher failed to meet targets.
During the initial testing phase, the publisher stepped in with its own marketing budget to gauge market demand. They evaluated player acquisition efficiency and retention rates firsthand. The final results yielded numbers that were not strong enough to secure a long-term commercial partnership between the two parties.
The external publisher did not reject the Pixelmon game outright. Instead, they requested further polish and suggested running a second trial in the coming weeks. However, Pixelmon declined the offer, opting instead to immediately disband the development team.
A Pre-Agreed Final Test
Pixelmon’s decision to pull the plug was reportedly planned internally. Well before the three-week test began, the internal team agreed that the publisher trial would serve as the ultimate test for the gaming division’s future, acknowledging that development had stagnated.
“We think we have been in the ‘not bad but not good enough’ territory for more than 2 years,” a Pixelmon representative said, addressing their reluctance to continue the project.
Following the trial’s outcome, all members of the gaming team received layoff notices last Friday. Management stated that severance pay and benefits would be provided in accordance with statutory requirements in each employee’s jurisdiction. Laid-off staff have entered a period of garden leave - completing their notice periods from home while the games are sunset and operational systems are fully dismantled in the background.
The End of the Road for Two Titles
The shutdown stands in stark contrast to Pixelmon’s earlier roadmap. As recently as August 2024, the project announced it was preparing to showcase two flagship titles to its Discord community. The two NFT-based games that will now never reach players are Warriors of Nova Thera and Hunting Grounds.
To date, the identity of the publisher that funded the three-week trial has not been publicly disclosed. Exact figures regarding marketing expenditures, actual customer acquisition costs, and retention data also remain undisclosed to the community.
Pixelmon’s decision to close the studio rather than continue iterating highlights the hurdles Web3 projects face when attempting to break into the mainstream gaming market. Two years of development came to an end after a single decisive test. Source: crypto.news.
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