Three Fields Entertainment, a UK studio founded by some of the creators behind the Burnout series, has notified its entire staff that they might soon be out of work as the studio faces possible shutdown. To help keep the doors open, the studio is now asking for fan support via Patreon.
On Tuesday, Three Fields co-founder and CEO Fiona Sperry announced that after hearing from fans who wanted to support the team more directly, the indie studio behind a number of racing games was launching a Patreon page. In the post announcing the plan, Sperry admitted it's not a strategy many other established game studios have done before, and called it an "interesting journey" that the team is "keen to learn from."
Three Fields move to Patreon seems like a bad sign for the game industry. It's becoming harder and harder for even veteran game developers with solid track records to get funding. And now at least one team has decided that asking fans for money in exchange for some behind-the-scenes info and other goodies is a more viable funding option than the usual traditional sources of cash, like a big publisher or media company.
The announcement of a Three Fields Patreon page follows the news earlier this month that the entire team was facing possible shutdown.
On December 3, Sperry explained on LinkedIn that all employees of the indie studio behind Danger Zone and the recently released open-world racing game Wreckreation have been given a notice of redundancy. This is a legal requirement for companies in the UK before laying off employees. In her post announcing the notice of redundancy, Sperry called this decision "unbelievably painful", but that the "reality" the studio faces is "stark."
"As an independent studio, we will not see revenue from [Wreckreation] game sales for the foreseeable future," said Sperry. "We have had to self-fund most of this year and all of the post-launch content. Without the enthusiasm or financial support from our publisher [THQ Nordic] to continue development, we simply cannot sustain the studio in its current form. Making this decision has been unbelievably painful."
In the post, Sperry shared a video showcasing some of the features and new modes that the team has been working to add to Wreckreation in possible future updates. The CEO hopes that by showing this stuff publicly, "someone out there might also see that potential," and the studio could be partially saved by a new publisher or investor.
"But even if that hope does not materialise, we want this to stand as a testament to our vision and to the strength, passion, and skill of our tiny team," said Sperry. "I truly believe in the potential of this game and in the brilliance of the people who built it."
In the post, Sperry says Three Fields will still release a new Wreckreation update, "again at our own cost,"Â before Christmas that will add crossplay support, a feature fans have been asking for since the open-world Burnout-like game launched in October.
"To everyone who has supported us, played our games, or believed in our studio: thank you," said Sperry.