Studio Camelia shuts down, ALZARA: Radiant Echoes on “indefinite pause”

Studio Camelia has shut down and ALZARA: Radiant Echoes is on “indefinite pause” after not being able to secure an industry partner, despite a successful Kickstarter campaign that secured nearly €300,000 in funding, the developer announced. Users who backed the Kickstarter campaign will not be refunded.

Here is the full message from Studio Camelia on its closure:

Hello everyone,

Here is an update that is very difficult for us to write. It is with deep sadness that we announce the closure of Studio Camelia. In this update, we will take the time to explain the circumstances that led to this outcome, as well as provide some clarity regarding the Kickstarter and the future.

How We Got Here

We founded Studio Camelia based on our love for JRPGs, with the desire to bring a fresh perspective to the genre while staying true to the essence of what makes a JRPG, produced by professionals from the industry. With ALZARA, we wanted to create a Mediterranean-inspired JRPG, influenced by games like Golden Sun and Final Fantasy X, with dynamic turn-based combat and centered around the theme of “Togetherness.”

The studio was officially created in May 2022, but the journey began nearly four years ago. From the very start, we fought tirelessly to bring our dream to life and were constantly seeking funding. We started the studio with our personal savings and managed to convince business angels, banks, and institutions who believed in our vision and supported us. We were even honored to be accepted into Microsoft’s Developer Acceleration Program.

With all this support, we had half the development of the game covered, and only needed to secure the other half through an industry partner. However, as you know, the video game industry is currently going through a crisis. Many studios have been forced to close due to lack of funding, and over 20,000 workers have lost their jobs. Investors are now operating in a market where taking risks is discouraged, and they can afford to wait before committing to a project in order to reduce risk.

To give ourselves the best possible chance of securing funding, we turned to Kickstarter to reduce the perceived risk for some partners and reassure them of the project’s profitability. The campaign was a huge success: ALZARA became one of the most-backed Gaming projects on Kickstarter in 2024, with over 5,000 backers and nearly €300,000 in pledges. Thank you again for your support! It was an incredible time for us.

We used that success to develop a new demo of the game incorporating the latest advances on ALZARA. We attended various events (Tokyo Game Show, DICE…) to meet with potential partners from around the world. We had in-depth discussions earlier this year, but unfortunately, none of them resulted in a contract, despite having a playable demo, a senior team, half of the funding secured, and the Kickstarter campaign. We spared no effort and tried to hold on as long as we could.

This is part of the harsh reality of the industry. We are creatives, but we need funding to keep creating. Sometimes, even having a promising game concept with proven market interest and a strong team is not enough. Many say that every released game is a miracle, and that couldn’t be more true.

Is There a Chance ALZARA Will Continue?

The studio’s liquidation was declared on April 28. At the time of writing, various legal procedures are underway and will be ongoing for some time. As you can imagine, we are unable to share the details of these procedures, but they pertain to the liquidation of a company.

ALZARA: Radiant Echoes is now on an indefinite pause. There is a slim chance that a third party might one day step in and offer to take over the project. If that happens, the game would inevitably take a different direction than what was presented during the campaign, but hopefully for the better!

About the Kickstarter

As you know, backing a Kickstarter project comes with risks: the very idea of the platform is to give creators a boost so they can bring their projects to life. It does not guarantee the final commercialization of the project, and therefore there is always a risk it won’t come to fruition.

Neither the studio nor Kickstarter is able to refund your contribution to the project, and we are truly sorry for that. For more information, you can consult the FAQ provided by Kickstarter.

A Bit of ALZARA

Before concluding this update, we’d like to share some excerpts from the demo we presented to our partners, showcasing the latest progress on the game. Sadly, this demo cannot be shared publicly for copyright reasons, and the company’s liquidation prevents us from releasing any game content. Please keep in mind that these are snippets from a work-in-progress game, and all elements shown would have been finalized during production.

The End

Thank you for taking the time to read this message in full. If you have any questions, we will take the time to answer them as best as we can, within the limits of what we are allowed to share.

We can only imagine your disappointment upon reading this. Know that we share your sorrow. We would have loved for this project to see the light of day. We were deeply invested in the world of ALZARA, its characters, and its story. We would have loved nothing more than to celebrate its release with you.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for your support from day one. Thank you for believing in our project. Thank you to our community for its kindness and words of encouragement.

With all our hearts,
The Studio Camelia Team