Spiders has now become a casualty of Nacon’s bankruptcy proceedings. Who knows what else might fall apart in the process?
At first glance, the closure of Spiders, the developer of GreedFall and Steelrising, may seem like nothing more than an unfortunate bankruptcy. However, according to the French union Syndicat des Travailleureuses du Jeu Vidéo, STJV, the closure has little to do with the recent insolvency proceedings and much more to do with intentional management failures.
Since Nacon’s acquisition in 2019, the union claims that Nacon has prevented Spiders from finding any legitimate path toward autonomy under its umbrella. The STJV also claims that this occurred in connection with the decision to close the studio. This suggests that Nacon’s management made the decision to shut down Spiders months ago, when they canceled the projects being developed by the studio. The STJV further alleges that Nacon delayed the process of signing a new contract. The STJV claims that Nacon prevented Spiders from signing contracts with other publishers, ensuring that Spiders had no way out of the closure.
The union also discussed how the loss of Spiders will impact game development in France, as the country has now lost one of its oldest studios, founded in 2008. The union expresses regret that the studio’s last canceled project, Mist, will never be released and that the studio’s employees are left unemployed after receiving low pay. The union is now calling for a complete boycott of games published by Nacon.
“Spiders’ liquidation was ordered on April 29. In a few weeks, the studio will cease to exist. Seventy-one workers will lose their jobs, careers, and income due to what we consider to be incompetence and malice on the part of Spiders and Nacon. Officially, the liquidation is due to Spiders’ lack of profit and the absence of a takeover offer. In reality, however, it appears to us that it is the result of a deliberate process on Nacon’s part. Spiders was an empty shell, reduced to a department within Nacon that could be eliminated at the whim of Nacon’s executives.
Even after Spiders was put under judicial reorganization, Nacon could have signed a contract with them. The administrators confirmed that Nacon never expressed any intention to sign a contract to continue Spiders’ operations and therefore never intended to save the company. In general, management at Spiders and Nacon mishandled the studio. They notably ignored the many alerts about the company’s economic situation, strategy, and management made by the workers’ representatives, who provided numerous negative reports during the yearly mandatory consultations. In our opinion, all of this shows that the liquidation was a premeditated and deliberate choice by Nacon’s management.
We refuse to see the group responsible for Spiders’ abrupt end pillaging the remains of our jobs. While we hope our games will continue to be enjoyed, we encourage players to avoid giving their money to Nacon, as doing so would reward the group for its actions. Despite the deafening silence of the industry on the collapse of the second-biggest video game employer in France, the fight will continue after Spiders’ demise. We will do everything in our power to ensure that Spiders’ and Nacon’s malice and mismanagement, which appear to be premeditated, are not left unpunished,” wrote STJV.
The STJV concluded by stating that it supports Spiders employees and developers at other Nacon subsidiaries who have not yet faced the full consequences of Nacon’s restructuring. The STJV also supports all gaming industry workers who are struggling to survive. This is not the first time Spiders employees, represented by the STJV, have spoken out against management.
In August 2024, Spiders team members wrote an open letter and called for a strike to draw management’s attention to the toxic atmosphere at the studio and management’s denial of these problems.
