Astragon Entertainment closes Astragon Development studio in Hamm, unwinding 2023 acquisition

Astragon Entertainment will wind down Astragon Development in Hamm by the end of November 2026. Reports put the affected headcount at 30 employees (GamesWirtschaft) or more than 40 (GamesMarket). The closure unwinds a 2023 bet to insource working-simulation development. Astragon paid up to $3.9 million (€3.5m) for Independent Arts Software in April 2023.

Seafarer's weak launch undercuts the in-house model
Seafarer: The Ship Sim left early access on September 24, 2026.
The German federal government funded development with more than €1.8 million ($2 million).
GamesMarket reported the 1.0 launch drew far fewer players than early access.
Astragon will update Seafarer only until the studio closes.

Daedalic's dev-to-publisher pivot sets the precedent
Daedalic shut its development division in 2023.
The closure came weeks after the botched launch of The Lord of the Rings: Gollum.
Daedalic now operates solely as a publisher, marketing titles made by other studios.
Astragon pulled out of physical distribution entirely in January to focus on publishing.

Astragon's 2023 insourcing bet unwinds within three years
The 2023 deal aimed to insource simulation development across more platforms.
Founder Holger Kuchling left the studio in February 2025.
The studio was renamed Astragon Development three months later.
Astragon says it will honor all existing contracts and liabilities during the wind-down.
What this means
For Service Vendors: Pitch console porting and sim co-dev capacity to the publisher, whose pipeline now runs fully external.
For Investors & VC: Haircut insourcing synergies when valuing publisher buyouts of work-for-hire studios.
For Publishers & Developers: Recruit the freed sim-engineering and console-porting talent before the year-end wind-down completes.