Those who have played Dear Esther or Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture will recognize The Chinese Room. As the developer of these popular games, the studio has seen some unexpected success. It would appear this positive growth happened a little too quickly though, as The Chinese Room is now re-thinking their development process.
Nearly all of the employees at The Chinese Room have been laid off as the co-founders take a step back. (Dan Pinchbeck and Jessica Curry are the co-founders of The Chinese Room.) Along with lead designer Andrew Crawshaw, Pinchbeck and Curry plan to continue working on projects. The 13th Interior is going to be developed by the three of them until there’s enough to warrant a whole team. The same is true of Little Orpheus . Pinchbeck has plans to move into the prototype period for Little Orpheus by the end of the year.
Within this trio of creators, Pinchbeck and Curry hope to find their zest for game development again. The speed with which The Chinese Room grew to a full development studio was faster than the two could have ever imagined. It thrust them both into managerial roles they didn’t want. Now they’re going to try to find a way to manage creating the games they want, while still being able to control a large studio. This (temporary) break from large-scale development should allow them the time to do just that.
This full restructuring of The Chinese Room was due in part to a lot of factors that included a health scare for Pinchbeck. He’s all right now, but it was enough to spark this re-imagining of The Chinese Room. For now the company will still be around on a much more muted scale. The future should bring a brand new Chinese Room with even more great games.
Source: Gamasutra