The original creators of the Risk of Rain video game series are sunsetting both their current project and their studio, in order to go work for Bellevue, Wash.-based Valve Software.
Hopoo Games, headquartered in Seattle, revealed on Monday that its original founders and “many other” members of its team will now go full-time on internal game projects at Valve.
As a result, Hopoo has ceased production on its current internal project, codenamed “Snail,” and has shut its doors for the time being.
“We love making games – and will continue to do so, for years to come,” the company said on X. “We’re excited to be working side-by-side with the talented people at Valve. But for now – sleep tight, Hopoo Games.”
Hopoo was founded in 2012 by Duncan Drummond and Paul Morse, who were then students at the University of Washington. Their debut project, Risk of Rain, is an action game that challenges players to find a way off of a hostile alien world before they’re overwhelmed by waves of monsters. If the player’s character dies, they must start the game over.
Today, we have an exciting update: Duncan and Paul, alongside many other talented members at Hopoo Games, will now be working on game development directly at @valvesoftware !
— Hopoo Games (@hopoogames) September 3, 2024
Risk of Rain was crowdfunded via Kickstarter, created with the GameMaker engine, and debuted on Steam in 2013. It quickly became a sales success, with over three million copies sold by 2019. A remake, Risk of Rain Returns, was released for PC and Nintendo Switch in 2023.
Hopoo went on to create a 2019 sequel, Risk of Rain 2, with the Unity game engine. It subsequently sold the rights to that game to its publishing partner Gearbox Entertainment (Borderlands) in November 2022, while Hopoo Games retained its independence. Gearbox has since continued development on Risk of Rain 2 with multiple expansions, such as the recent Seekers of the Storm.
Neither Valve nor Hopoo Games have revealed what Hopoo is working on at Valve. Right now, Valve’s highest-profile internal project is Deadlock, which pits two teams of six against each other in gameplay that takes elements from both “hero shooters” (i.e. Overwatch) and online battle arenas like Dota 2.
