Astragon closes German studio Astragon Development

Astragon Entertainment is closing Astragon Development, the German studio formerly known as Independent Arts Software.¹²

GamesMarket put the number of affected staff at more than 40. GamesWirtschaft reported about 30 jobs lost.¹³

Astragon cast the move as a strategic realignment and said it will focus more tightly on its core publishing business.²³ CEO Tim Schmitz said the decision was not easy, praised the team’s work over recent years, and called a sharper focus on the core business a necessary step for the group’s overall strategy and long-term security.³

The company is seeking socially responsible solutions for the affected employees in coordination with the workforce representation. A works council has been in place at Astragon for about a year.¹³

Independent Arts was founded in Hamm in 1990 by Holger Kuchling. Over three decades it worked on more than 250 games, mainly ports and co-development for publishers including Kalypso Media, Daedalic Entertainment and Wild River Games.¹³ Team17, now Everplay Group, acquired Astragon in 2022. Astragon bought Independent Arts in April 2023 for up to $3.9 million (€3.5 million), with plans to bring development of its working-simulation games in-house and expand across more platforms.¹⁴ Kuchling left the company in 2025, and the studio was renamed Astragon Development.¹³

The closure follows the full release of Seafarer: The Ship Sim at the end of September. The title received more than $2 million (€1.8 million) in German federal funding. GamesMarket reported that the 1.0 launch drew far fewer players than the early-access debut and that user reviews were Mixed. Astragon has said it will keep updating the game until Astragon Development’s activity ends.¹³

In January the publisher exited physical distribution entirely to concentrate on publishing.¹ Astragon Entertainment is one of three Everplay divisions, alongside StoryToys and Team17.³

Outlook: the next Everplay filing will show the German unit without an in-house studio.

Our read: The 2023 purchase was meant to pull simulation work inside the house. Three years, one funded ship sim, and a mixed 1.0 later, the publisher is back on publishing alone. Headcount is the immediate line item; what ships next under the Astragon label is the longer one.

Footnotes

1. GamesIndustry.biz, “Astragon closes Independent Arts successor studio Astragon Development”. Retrieved November 3, 2026. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

2. GamesMarket, “Astragon Development Closed as Part of a Strategic Realignment”. Retrieved November 3, 2026. ↩ ↩²

3. GamesWirtschaft, “Astragon schließt Astragon Development (Update)”. Retrieved November 3, 2026. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

4. Game Developer, “Astragon is acquiring long-running German studio Independent Arts”. Retrieved November 3, 2026. ↩