Sure thing, let’s dive right in. Okay, so imagine this—Zynga, the big name in gaming, just pulled the plug on a little studio you might know: Echtra Games. Yeah, the folks behind Torchlight 3. It’s kind of a mess.
So, here’s the deal. Zynga, which is under Take-Two (they’re huge, right?), said something about a “strategic realignment.” Honestly, I don’t even know what that really means. It’s like corporate code for, “we gotta make some changes—weird, right?”
Anyway, Echtra was this brainchild of Max Schaefer. You remember Runic Games? Yup, that’s him too. He ditched that scene in 2016 and kicked off Echtra. Guess who else was involved? Perfect World. They pumped out Torchlight 3 back in 2020. Not too ancient, right?
Fast forward to 2021, and bam! Zynga scooped Echtra up. It’s all mysterious and hush-hush because, of course, they didn’t say how much they paid. But get this—Perfect World still holds onto Torchlight 3 like it’s some precious jewel.
At Zynga, Echtra was busy tinkering with some cross-platform RPG. There was a tie in with CSR Racing too. Then there’s Star Wars: Hunters—sounds dramatic, doesn’t it?
A spokesperson from Zynga chimed in, saying the shutdown was unavoidable. They talked about “future titles,” whatever those might’ve been, being canned. And they dropped the usual corporate lingo about treating affected employees well—I guess we’ll see how that pans out.
Life’s a ride, right? Or rollercoaster—pick your metaphor. Just another day in the gaming universe.
