Indie studio Fullbright's upcoming third game Open Roads is in the middle of a massive studio shift over two years after its announcement. Open Roads was first revealed at The Game Awards 2020, and since then, the renowned studio has had to deal with some serious speedbumps.
Fullbright became responsible for the critically acclaimed indie darling Gone Home in 2013, a formative title that helped shape the first-person, story-driven indie adventure genre in the years to follow. Following that, 2017 saw the release of Fullbright's second title Tacoma. Starring Keri Russell and Kaitlyn Dever, Open Roads is set to have players exploring family history through a mother-daughter relationship on a long road trip. In 2021, it had been reported that studio founder and creative lead Steve Gaynor had been exhibiting toxic behavior toward multiple team members, leading to the departure of most of the studio and the indefinite delay of Open Roads. Later, Gaynor stepped down as creative lead but remained on the project as part of Fullbright.
In a recent newsletter, Steve Gaynor expressed that the remainder of the Open Roads team has left Fullbright and that he's the only developer left at the once-celebrated indie studio. He explained that the team will continue the development of Open Roads independently from Fullbright and will be credited as "The Open Roads Team" upon the game's release.
Gaynor added that, as a solo developer, he's been working on a new Fullbright game for the past year. Meanwhile, the acclaimed indie publisher Annapurna Interactive, responsible for publishing masterpieces such as Outer Wilds, What Remains of Edith Finch, and Kentucky Route Zero, among many others, will continue to support the Open Roads team as it works to bring the long-awaited title to the finish line in the coming weeks.
As for Gaynor, it's unknown whether he'll attempt to staff up Fullbright once again to work on future games. It would likely be difficult to do so considering the toxic reputation he's garnered over the past several years. On a more positive note, it will be interesting to see if the Open Roads team will form their own new indie studio after the game is released. It's nice to see the team was able to separate from Fullbright while maintaining control of their work on Open Roads, all with the support of Annapurna Interactive.
Open Roads is in development for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: Fullbright (via PCGamesN)
