Devolver-owned Reigns developer Nerial closes after 13 years

Nerial is closing down after 13 years in business and 11 published games made with parent company Devolver Digital.

“After 13 years and 11 published games, we have decided together with our partners at Devolver to end development at the studio,” the studio said in a statement posted to X/Twitter.

The Reigns series – the original game of which is estimated to have generated $6.2m since its 2016 launch – went on to spawn licensed spin-offs including Reigns: Game of Thrones (thought to have generated $2.2m), Reigns: Three Kingdoms (released via Netflix) and, most recently, Reigns: The Witcher ($191K).

Several Reigns games have been published on Apple Arcade, Netflix and Google Play Pass, and Nerial also released narrative thriller The Crush House on PC in 2024.

Devolver Digital acquired Nerial in 2021 for an undisclosed fee, having previously worked with the indie studio to publish several Reigns games.

Founders Tamara and François Alliot said the Nerial team will now look for new opportunities elsewhere, and thanked collaborators at Devolver and beyond.

The pair say they intend to keep making games themselves after taking time to “reflect on everything that’s happened,” though didn’t give any detail on what comes next or what happened to necessitate the closure.

While the statement did not reveal how many developers had been impacted by the closure, a LinkedIn post suggests approximately eight people have lost their jobs, including the founders.