“Developing games has been full of ups and downs over the long years. Unfortunately in the past few years attempting to push on and work by myself in such a competitive field has generally not been good for me. With the reception of my recently games being unexpectedly poor, the income I have been getting from this line of work has stopped being reliable to pay my bills into the future. As such I have found a new career and decided to stop Flyleap Studios. This will mean that all our games will be taken off sale soon,” the developer said on Steam.(opens in new tab) They also apologized to anyone who felt failed and thanked anyone who has enjoyed their games.
Kingdoms Rise was a promising-looking solo project released in 2013 by an independent developer known as Flyleap Studios. It was a fantasy sword battle game centred on physicality and player skill, similar to For Honor before For Honor. Despite its Early Access designation, early reviews praised the game’s playability and multiplayer. However, progress slowed, and the last major update was in 2017. In 2016, Flyleap worked on another game on quadcopter drone racing, which garnered mixed reviews. Flyleap has officially retired from Kingdoms Rise—and game development—after five years.
Highlights
Flyleap Studios is now yet another cautionary tale in the hazards and difficulty of indie game development and the travails of Early Access. Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he’s not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.
