Zynga Shuts Down Echtra Games | PC Games Insider

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So, picture this: Echtra Games, the minds behind Torchlight 3, just got the boot. Zynga, the big boss now, decided to, well, shut it down. Why, you ask? Some fancy “strategic realignment.” Whatever that actually means. It’s a bit of a mystery, honestly.

Echtra’s story starts with this guy, Max Schaefer. He’s sorta the mastermind behind the original Torchlight and its follow-up from 2012. Left Runic Games in 2016, decided “hey, why not start fresh?” And bam, Echtra Games was born. They even dropped Torchlight 3 in 2020, if you remember. But fun fact – Perfect World still owns that game. Confused yet?

Fast forward to 2021, Zynga rolls in, scoops up Echtra for… some amount of money. No one’s spilling the tea on that. They had their fingers in all sorts of pies though – something cross-platform, some racing, a bit of Star Wars chaos, you name it. But now, it’s all kaput.

Zynga’s spokesperson (probably with a tie and everything) said closing Echtra was this tough call in their big “realignment” game. Sounds corporate, right? Anyway, they promised to help out the folks who lost their jobs. Let’s hope they actually mean that.

Life in the game dev world, huh? It’s a trip.