14 | February | 2026 | The Ancient Gaming Noob

Wasn’t I just on about the Kickstarter curse the other day when news broke about Ashes of Creation getting shut down and staff being laid off? So I was feeling a bit of that again as we got news last night that Playable World, Raph Koster’s company, which is developing the online game Stars Reach, was laying off some staff.

Stars Reach – To Be Continued

The announcement came at the classic “I am hoping to avoid the news cycle” time of after 4pm on a Friday, from Raph himself, who I am sure is well aware of this as a tactic. I learned the “bad news only after 4pm on Friday rule” in a marketing class back in college a long, long time ago.

Raph also knows full well that “reorganization” isn’t a synonym for “layoff,” but chose to use the former rather than the latter word despite the meaning being obvious from the context of the message.

The following was posted by Raph at 4:42pm Pacific Time in the general channel of the official Stars Reach Discord server

IMPORTANT MESSAGE…

This week, I made the very difficult decision to reorganize our team.

Building ambitious online worlds is never a straight line. Timelines change, and we have to make hard choices to ensure there’s a sustainable path to delivering Stars Reach for the long term. After exploring every alternative available to us, we concluded this step was necessary to stay true to the trust players have placed in us.

The people affected by this decision are extraordinarily talented developers and deeply good humans. Their creativity, care, and dedication are woven into the fabric of the universe we’re building, and we’re profoundly grateful for everything they’ve contributed. Our focus right now is supporting them through this transition and doing what we can to help them land on their feet.

As we continue forward, I’ll be more directly involved in leading development alongside the team. Our previously posted roadmap priorities remain intact, and as always, we will keep the community informed of any changes to the plan.

This is a heavy moment for our studio. We don’t take it lightly, and I’m truly sorry for the impact this has on people we care deeply about. At the same time, we remain committed to building something special, and having the community along on the journey.

Thank you for your continued support.

This was followed up with posts on Reddit and other social media channels.

The message as posted to sites with character limits

There is at this time no word on how many individuals were let go.

Nor was any reason given for the need to lay staff off, though it seems quite likely that funding channels that were secured based on the success of the Kickstarter campaign the team ran last year may have dried up. Whether those backers had soured on the game and its progress or if they simply decided to join the exodus from the industry that has been going on for some time now is unknown. (The Matthew Ball presentation on the industry and its current decline.) Raph leaned towards this in responses on Reddit, but gave no specifics.

That message was followed by a quick set of answers to obvious questions:

-Is Stars Reach still happening?
- Yes, Stars Reach is still very much in development.
-Does this delay the release of the game?
- We haven’t announced any release dates yet. Our focus is on making sure we deliver the game in a way that honors the trust players have placed in us, rather than rushing or making commitments before they’re ready.
-Is the scope of the game changing?
- No. The shape of Stars Reach isn’t changing, but how and when pieces come online will continue to evolve, as they always have. We track that openly on our Living Roadmap, which reflects what’s in progress, what’s next, and what’s being evaluated.
  https://starsreach.com/roadmap/
-Will Kickstarter rewards still be honored?
- Yes. Kickstarter rewards remain part of what we’re building toward. While timelines can evolve, the commitments themselves haven’t changed, and we’ll continue sharing updates as work progresses.
-Are playtests continuing?
- Yes. Playtests are continuing, and community involvement remains a core part of development. We’ll continue to share playtest schedules and details as we have been.

Saying the game hasn’t been delayed because you haven’t announced a release date yet is one of those technically correct assertions that strays into “begging the question” territory while failing to address the actual concern.

Will this project take longer to reach fruition with fewer people working on it? Undoubtedly yes, and all the more so if the team holds to the original scope. That is just the way reality works.

All of this is playing out here as it has on so many other projects over the last few years as the end of the long running video game boom cycle ended after Covid. That doesn’t make it right or acceptable, just the reality we are currently living in. Some times tough choices have to be made, and I feel for Raph today having been both the person laying people off and one of the people being laid off at various points of my own career.

But most of all I feel for the people who were let go as part of this. Getting laid off is never good, and all the more so if you’re working on a project with a good team and circumstances are just working against you. I hope fresh and interesting new projects await you all.