Douze Dixiémes released MIO: Memories in Orbit near the start of this year. The atmospheric adventure mixed gorgeous sci-fi art with action-platforming puzzles and combat. It was an early 2026 banger and a unique flavor of Metroidvania. Months later, the studio that made it is already shutting down.
That’s according to a new report by French news outlet Le Figaro, which outlines a panic among game developers in the country as teams across its gaming industry struggle. Douze Dixiémes’ first game was the short 2020 puzzle adventure Shady Part of Me. The indie team used its expertise in animation and cinematics to deliver beautiful visuals that unfurled as players explored.
MIO: Memories in Orbit was in the same mold, but much more ambitious. The 2.5D side-scroller puts players in the shoes of the titular MIO, a robot exploring a derelict colony ship whose only inhabitants appear to be other robots. Think a mashup of Hollow Knight and Gris. The game broke into the 80s on Metacritic and garnered nearly 2,000 reviews on Steam with a rating of very positive.
Despite the initial buzz, MIO: Memories in Orbit never quite broke as a broader indie darling for the year or one of those early indie GOTY contenders. Focus Entertainment will reportedly retain publishing rights for the game, though the team behind it will never get to make the follow-up it deserved. It’s the latest example of the sort of hyper-competitive landscape facing games that are great but not great enough and it sucks.
Quantic Dream, Don’t Nod, and Nacon’s studios are all facing financial struggles as well. With venture capital and Chinese tech companies now pulling out of gaming, it’s not clear who’s left to bail out even the better known teams in the industry.
