Nacon's decision to liquidate Spiders, the French studio behind Greedfall and Greedfall 2, represents deliberate mismanagement rather than financial necessity, according to the French video game workers union STJV. The union issued a formal statement accusing Nacon management of making a "premeditated and deliberate choice" to shut down the studio and called for a boycott of the publisher.
Spiders' closure marks another casualty in the ongoing wave of studio shutdowns that has plagued the industry. The developer produced Greedfall, a mid-budget RPG that gained critical acclaim for its ambitious worldbuilding and character-driven storytelling, plus the action game Steelrising. Greedfall 2 was in active development when the liquidation decision came down.
The union's accusation carries weight given the context surrounding Nacon's parent company Bigben Interactive. The publisher has faced scrutiny over its treatment of development teams, and this closure appears particularly harsh given Spiders' track record of delivering projects. The STJV's boycott call signals industry-wide frustration with publisher behavior during a period of mass layoffs.
For players, this shutdown threatens Greedfall 2's future. While Nacon hasn't formally cancelled the sequel, the studio liquidation leaves its development in limbo. The situation underscores how mid-sized studios occupy precarious positions in an industry increasingly dominated by consolidation and risk-averse publishing decisions.
The closure also highlights broader labor concerns in French game development. The STJV's public stance represents growing union activism in response to industry instability, particularly at smaller studios lacking the resources of major publishers. This confrontation between organized labor and publisher management will likely set precedent for how workers address future closures.
Nacon has not publicly responded to the union's claims or boyc