Rodeo Games closes following poor Deathwatch sales

Guildford-based mobile game studio Rodeo Games has shut up shop despite warm reactions to its seemingly presciently-titled latest release, Warhammer 40,000: Deathwatch.

A start-up company founded in 2010 by four industry veterans from companies including EA, Criterion, and Codemasters, Rodeo Games hit the mobile gaming scene in 2013 with the release of Warhammer Quest for iOS. Later ported to Windows, Warhammer Quest would be followed by Warhammer 40,000: Deathwatch - Tyranid Invasion, trading the fantasy setting of its predecessor for the grim darkness of the far future where, fans of the setting will be only too glad to remind you, there is only war.

Unfortunately for Rodeo Games, positive critical reception for Deathwatch did not translate into high sales. In a post to Touch Arcade first publicised by Develop, Rodeo's Matthew Spencer revealed that its relatively weak sales were the end for the company. 'I and the majority of the team left 4 months ago,' he wrote, 'so afaik tthere's [sic] no one to offer support or make content.

'[i]Like most indie developers, you're only as good as your last game, and even though Deathwatch was Rodeos highest metric game, it didn't make enough so we had to move on.'