It’s also thought-provoking that the studio’s game was released on the now-defunct Google Stadia days before the studio closed…
Journey to the Savage Planet’s current-gen release is subtitled Employee of the Month Edition, but the game is not that interesting. The story of the studio behind the game is: Typhoon Studios was founded in February 2017 and only released one game. It was released on January 28, 2020, for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC (Steam, GOG, Humble Store, Epic Games Store) (and then in May for Nintendo Switch), shortly after their acquisition by Stadia Games & Entertainment (December 2019).
At the time, we might have thought that Google would not repeat the mistakes made by OnLive a decade earlier. Still, we were wrong: the service’s failure was copied one after another by the tech company (even though there was much more money behind it), as on February 1, 2021, Google stopped its internal development and shut down Stadia Games & Entertainment (which is how Jade Raymond, ex-head of SG&E, got from Ubisoft to EA Motive to Stadia to Haven Studios, near PlayStation), and yes, Typhoon Studios also suffered the same fate… a whopping FOUR days after the release of the Stadia port, which was released on January 28, 2021!
In August 2021, Raccoon Logic was formed (with a small Chinese investment from Tencent). Two founding members (Alex Hutchinson and Reid Schneider) were also present when Typhoon Studios was created, so they’re picking up where they left off, with Erick Bilodeau, Yannick Simard, and Marc-Antoine Lussier from the old studio joining them. Now they’re bringing the metroidvania/adventure game from Stadia to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series. 505 Games will be the publisher, and the price will be $30, but if you already have the base game for PlayStation 4 or Xbox One, you’ll get the current-gen update for free.
“We’ve been through an acquisition, we’ve been made redundant, we’ve formed a new company, and reacquired our IP, but some way, somehow, the Employee of the Month Edition of our wacky game is finally coming to new consoles. Thanks to everyone who supported us, especially you, Value Employee. You’re my favorite, whatever your name is,” said Raccoon Logic creative director Hutchinson “weeping only a little” in the press release.
Journey to the Savage Planet is coming to PlayStation 5 and Xbox One on February 14.
Source: Gematsu
![However, an anonymous GOG employee paints an even darker tone of the internal situation: „We were told it’s a financial decision. GOG’s revenue couldn’t keep up with growth, the fact that we’re dangerously close to being in the red has come up in the past few months, and the market’s move towards higher [developer] revenue shares have, or will, affect the bottom line as well.](https://thegeek.games/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/the-gog-1-302x180.jpg)
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