Mass Effect Co-Creator Studio Human Origin was abruptly shut down in the midst of AAA Sci-Fi game development

Humanoid Origin, the game studio founded by Mass Effects co-creator Casey Hudson, is shutting down, according to an official post from the company today.

The LinkedIn post the announcement of the closure explains that the decision was made due to “an unexpected lack of funding” despite efforts to “shield the studio from broader industry challenges.”

We are devastated that we will not be able to complete our new science fiction universe. However, our main concern at this time is for our team and we are committed to supporting them in their transition to new employment.

In our time together, the team made incredible progress and demonstrated that it is possible to do great work while fostering a culture of fun and creativity. We thank them for their talent, courage and friendship.

Humanoid Origin has only been around since June 2021, just over three years. It was first announced by Hudson as Humanoid Studios after his departure from BioWare the previous December, and was later revealed to be working on a multi-platform, AAA game set in a new science fiction universe. In 2023, Hudson announced that the company name would be slightly changed to Humanoid Origin“reflecting the idea that in a world of AI-generated content, the creativity of our games comes from the talented people on our team!” Humanoid origin was active employment as recently as last May.

This closure comes as another in a long, long line of layoffs, studio closings and game cancellations that have been ongoing throughout 2023 and 2024. A estimated 14,000 developers have lost their jobs in 2024, after over 10,000 the year before. We covered both the reasons why this trend has occurred and its impact on individual developers earlier this year, but the jury is still out on when the constant shutters will finally slow down.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posts on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to [email protected].