Toronto, ON – The video game industry's turbulent year continues, as NetEase Games has shuttered its Canadian subsidiary, Bad Brain Games Studios. The closure, announced by studio head Sean Crooks, marks the second NetEase studio to fall this week and leaves the fate of its intriguing project, codenamed The Midnight Riders, hanging in the balance.
The studio, which was established in 2023 and staffed by veteran developers from Ubisoft's Watch Dogs series, will officially cease operations on November 17, 2025. The decision comes after a failed campaign to secure essential funding to continue development on its debut title.
A Heartbreaking Announcement from Studio Leadership
The news was broken in a somber post on LinkedIn by Sean Crooks, who helmed the Toronto-based studio. “It’s with a heavy heart that we share that Bad Brain Game Studios will be closing its doors,” Crooks wrote, confirming the fears of many in the industry who have been watching the studio's progress.
Crooks explained that the team had "explored every avenue" to find external investment or a publishing partner for The Midnight Riders, but ultimately could not secure a deal. He took a moment to praise the now-disbanding team, highlighting their "creativity and commitment" and noting how they "pushed creative and technical boundaries every day with passion, imagination, and craft."
What Was The Midnight Riders?
The closure is a particular blow to gamers who had been eagerly following the project's development. The Midnight Riders was shaping up to be a unique, retro-themed action-adventure game. It featured a group of school-going teenagers who explore mysterious worlds on their bicycles, battling eldritch horrors using everyday objects like slingshots and baseball bats.
The concept captured significant attention online after the studio released a sizzle reel showcasing the game's art direction and gameplay. The brief glimpse promised a stylish and imaginative take on the coming-of-age adventure genre.
You can see the well-received sizzle reel that generated so much buzz right here
A Glimmer of Hope for the IP and the Team
Despite the devastating setback, all may not be entirely lost for The Midnight Riders. In his announcement, Crooks confirmed that the intellectual property (IP) and everything developed for the project remain "available for acquisition or partnership."
"We believe strongly in what was created, and would love to see this world find its way to players," Crooks stated, holding out hope that another studio or investor might step in to resurrect the title. This scenario mirrors what happened with T-Minus Zero Entertainment, another NetEase studio that closed recently but managed to strike a deal for its assets and name.
However, for the nearly two dozen employees of Bad Brain Games, the immediate future is uncertain. The team, which was poached from major studios with great fanfare just two years ago, now enters a brutal job market. They are part of a devastating wave of layoffs that has seen tens of thousands of game developers lose their jobs throughout 2024 and 2025, making the search for new opportunities fiercely competitive.
Crooks ended his message on a poignant note, addressing the community that had supported them: “Your encouragement and belief in what we were building meant the world to us. While this chapter is ending sooner than we had hoped, the spirit of what we created at Bad Brain will live on through the incredible people who made it possible.”
The closure of Bad Brain Games is the third high-profile studio shutdown linked to NetEase in recent months, raising questions about the publisher's strategy for its international studios. For now, The Midnight Riders remains a promising "what if," a ghost in the machine of the gaming industry, waiting for someone to press start again.
For fans of the team's previous work on the Watch Dogs series, you can check out the latest entry in the franchise below:
Buy Watch Dogs: Legion on Amazon
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