Nerial, the developer of the Reigns series and other games, has announced plans to shut down. This marks the end of a 13-year run. The London-based studio posted a lengthy message on social media announcing it was entering “hibernation mode” after discussing plans to end active development with its publishing partners at Devolver Digital.
“It’s been an incredible adventure. We came into this with no expectations or ambitions and we will never forget the utter puzzlement of releasing Reigns in 2016 to so many players, the fascinating and slightly disturbed Card Shark fan art players are still sending us, the thrill of Reigns expanding with adaptations of Game of Thrones, Animal Farm, Three Kingdoms, and the latest, Reigns: The Witcher. Not forgetting our most ambitious project, The Crush House, which we remain immensely proud of.”
Nerial does not provide specific reasons for the closure, but states that while the studio may be closing, the employees will remain working in game development following a break to “reflect on everything that’s happened before coming back with a new perspective.”
You can read Nerial’s full post below (click to enlarge):
Nerial burst onto the scene with Reigns in 2016, a card-based role-playing game where players assume the role of a monarch to rule and manage a kingdom. Reigns’ popularity spawned a series of sequels, such as Reigns: Her Majesty, and licensed spin-offs Reigns: Game of Thrones and Reigns: The Witcher (which launched this year and will be Nerial’s final release). Nerial also developed titles such as The Crush House and Card Shark.
Nerial’s demise is the latest in what’s unfortunately becoming a long list of developer closures in 2026. Meta shuttered three of its VR developers: Twisted Pixel (‘Splosion Man), Sanzaru Games (Asgard’s Wrath), and Armature Studio (ReCore). Other studios to close their doors this year include Bluepoint Games (Demon’s Souls remake), Ivy Road (Wanderstop), Intrepid Studios (Ashes of Creation), Spiders (Greedfall), Night School (Oxenfree), and Polyarc (Moss).
