Puzzle Studio Zachtronics Announces Its Closure

Zachtronics, an American indie studio best known for engineering puzzle games like SpaceChem and programming games like TIS-100, announced it is ceasing its operations. The developer said it will close its doors sometime in 2022 after it releases its final games, Last Call BBS which will launch in July, and a solitaire collection that is due out by the end of the year.

Following this the team will be dissolved, Zachtronic's founder Zach Barth shared in an interview with Kotaku. The developer noted that it was the team's collective decision to "wrap things up." "We all have different ideas, interests, tolerances for risk, and so on, so we’re still figuring out what we want to do next," he said adding that the team "felt it was time for a change."

Barth also recalled that the studio had been shut down once before, in 2015, after which he joined Valve and worked there for ten months. The developer said that this decision gave the team the chance to "cash out some of [its] equity" and "re-engage with the rest of the games industry" which helped them to rebuild the studio from the ground up. However, he stated that this time the studio closes its doors for good.

According to Barth, it is actively discussed right now where the developers plan to head next. He shared that while some members of the team are searching for stable positions which would allow them to grow professionally – the thing that a small indie studio couldn't provide, he is more interested in freelancing and "weird side projects." 

"While we got very good at making 'Zachtronics games' over the last twelve years, it was hard for us to make anything else," Barth said. "We were fortunate enough to carve out a special niche, and I’m thankful that we’ve been able to occupy it and survive in it, but it also kept us locked into doing something we didn’t feel like doing forever."

You can find the full interview with Zach Barth here. Also, don't forget to join our new Reddit page, our new Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram and Twitter, where we are sharing breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.