--- title: Reigns developer Nerial enters 'hibernation mode, lays... description: British game studio Nerial, known for Reigns, Card Shark, and The Crush House, announced it is entering 'hibernation mode' and ending development after 13... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/reigns-developer-nerial-enters-hibernation-mode-lays-off-staff-3zd2xgpxm twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Reigns developer Nerial enters 'hibernation mode, lays off staff | daily.dev og:description: British game studio Nerial, known for Reigns, Card Shark, and The Crush House, announced it is entering 'hibernation mode' and ending development after 13... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/reigns-developer-nerial-enters-hibernation-mode-lays-off-staff-3zd2xgpxm og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/3ZD2XGPxm.png og:image:alt: Reigns developer Nerial enters 'hibernation mode, lays off staff og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Reigns developer Nerial enters 'hibernation mode, lays off staff **[Game Developer](https://daily.dev/sources/gamedeveloper)** · 2 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary British game studio Nerial, known for Reigns, Card Shark, and The Crush House, announced it is entering 'hibernation mode' and ending development after 13 years and 11 published games, laying off its remaining staff. The decision was made jointly with Devolver Digital, which acquired the studio in 2021 and previously cut 40% of its workforce in 2024. Co-founders François and Tamara Alliot said the move isn't the end of their game dev careers, but they need a break before returning with a new perspective. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Why did Nerial, the studio behind Reigns, shut down? Nerial entered 'hibernation mode' and ended development after 13 years and 11 published games, laying off its remaining employees. The decision was made jointly with Devolver Digital, which acquired the studio in 2021 and had already cut 40 percent of its workforce in 2024. Co-founders François and Tamara Alliot said they need a break before potentially returning to game development. _daily.dev surfaces industry shutdown stories like this for developers tracking the games business._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Gravity Well lays off more than 40 developers after losing its funding](https://daily.dev/posts/gravity-well-lays-off-more-than-40-developers-after-losing-its-funding-zcgtj1o9u) · GamesIndustry.biz · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [UK publisher Outright Games confirms layoffs](https://daily.dev/posts/uk-publisher-outright-games-confirms-layoffs-syhkbje6u) · Game Developer · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Former ZeniMax Online devs form Ironroot Games following "traumatising" layoffs](https://daily.dev/posts/former-zenimax-online-devs-form-ironroot-games-following-traumatising-layoffs-4xvknnjxv) · GamesIndustry.biz · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#game-development](https://daily.dev/tags/game-development) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/reigns-developer-nerial-enters-hibernation-mode-lays-off-staff-3zd2xgpxm) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Reigns developer Nerial enters 'hibernation mode, lays off staff","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/reigns-developer-nerial-enters-hibernation-mode-lays-off-staff-3zd2xgpxm","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/reigns-developer-nerial-enters-hibernation-mode-lays-off-staff-3zd2xgpxm"},"datePublished":"2026-10-02T21:31:45.644Z","dateModified":"2026-10-02T21:32:29.498Z","description":"British game studio Nerial, known for Reigns, Card Shark, and The Crush House, announced it is entering 'hibernation mode' and ending development after 13...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/b4bd29bf1081d1a7044ef00eb33e0e1f?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/b4bd29bf1081d1a7044ef00eb33e0e1f?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Game Developer","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Game Developer","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/5fbb7418db8746769a45f55309bbdf13","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/gamedeveloper"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/reigns-developer-nerial-enters-hibernation-mode-lays-off-staff-3zd2xgpxm","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"game-development","timeRequired":"PT2M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Game Developer","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/gamedeveloper"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Reigns developer Nerial enters 'hibernation mode, lays off staff"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/reigns-developer-nerial-enters-hibernation-mode-lays-off-staff-3zd2xgpxm#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Why did Nerial, the studio behind Reigns, shut down?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Nerial entered 'hibernation mode' and ended development after 13 years and 11 published games, laying off its remaining employees. The decision was made jointly with Devolver Digital, which acquired the studio in 2021 and had already cut 40 percent of its workforce in 2024. Co-founders François and Tamara Alliot said they need a break before potentially returning to game development. daily.dev surfaces industry shutdown stories like this for developers tracking the games business."}}]} ```