Zynga Shuts Down Echtra Games | PC Games Insider

Oh man, you know when something kinda just hits you out of nowhere? Like, one minute you’re just scrolling along, minding your own business, and bam — news that makes you go, “Wait, what?” So, I stumbled across this bit about Echtra Games getting the proverbial boot by Zynga. Just another day in the gaming world, right? But it got me thinking, maybe a little more than it should’ve.

So, Zynga, big ol’ Take-Two’s buddy, decided to pull the plug on this San Francisco-based hub. They say it’s all part of some “strategic realignment.” Yeah, because that clears it up, right? I guess it’s their way of saying they need to shuffle things around. Whatever that means.

Echtra was the brainchild of Max Schaefer, who, fun fact, was also behind Runic Games — you know, the folks who gave us Torchlight and its sequel back in the day. Schaefer decided to shake things up and left his old hangout in 2016 to whip up Echtra Games. Perfect World had its hands in there too and eventually rolled out Torchlight 3 in 2020. Oh, and Zynga picked up Echtra in 2021. A bit of a whirlwind romance, I guess? But now, it’s like the honeymoon’s over.

It’s wild, though — Echtra was dabbling in some secretive cross-platform RPG project. They even pitched in on CSR Racing and messed around with this Star Wars: Hunters gig, which isn’t exactly getting rave reviews.

A Zynga rep — probably sipping on cold coffee and rolling their eyes — mentioned that shutting down Echtra was a tough call. Future projects? Gone. Jobs? Reduced. All part of their reshuffle game. But hey, at least they’re promising to treat all the affected folks with “utmost respect and consideration.” Corporate lingo at its finest.

So yeah, that’s the scoop. It’s a mess out there, but what do I know? I’m just here, pondering why this sorta stuff sticks in my head.