TitanReach Has Shut Down For Good Months After Receiving Funding From An Angel Investor

Square Root Studios has once again stopped development on TitanReach just six months after the studio received a sizable investment from an anonymous angel investor. Although, this time it looks like it’s going to be permanent. The indie development studio announced their closure, along with the game, on Discord earlier today.

“Square Root Studios will be closing its doors for good. TitanReach will be laid to rest. The reasons for this are private,” wrote Square Root co-founder Unravel. “And no, I am not running off with the funding – we were funded in monthly installments.”

It’s worth noting that the last statement doesn’t exactly lineup with his statement back in September when he said that he couldn’t believe it was real until he received double the amount of “a large sum of money” no strings attached.

“I was in a position where I could have blocked this person and bought a nice house, a Tesla, and not had to worry about my family’s future. I like to think I’m an honest and loyal person, but even in this situation I would be lying if the thought didn’t once cross my mind.”

According to Unravel, a total of $1 million was spent on the game’s development over the past two years with around $200,000 coming from the community. He also talks about the challenges that came with developing the game.

“The ride has not been easy, nobody tells you that building cool products like this requires so much more than just your love for it,” he said. “A shy solo programmer turned game dev thrown into the deep end dealing with a community, company, management, public & private drama, finances, and what feels like everything but development.”

“There have been so many people that have contributed to TitanReach, many team members who have come and gone over the years – all made this happen. I believe we all learnt a ton on this project from each other, and just in general, a better picture of how all the cogs work in game dev,” he added.

Unravel goes on to talk at length about his supposed plans to incorporate blockchain technology and NFTs into TitanReach. As you can probably guess, didn’t sit well with the community, especially since he spent more time talking about his NFT plans than lamenting the fate of the game or consoling backers who lost their money.

While studio and game shutdowns are a common occurrence in the video game industry, this particular instance raises more than a few red flags. All of the studio’s social media accounts have also been deactivated just minutes after the announcement, including Discord (which was meant to stay up for another week), Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit.

The question remains, what happened to the money?