For many years, it seemed that Valve was not actually doing anything – only managing Steam and adding new cases to Counter-Strike. As it turned out, this is not the case. And it’s not just about the development of Deadlock.
Hopoo Games (Risk of Rain) studio has suddenly announced that it has joined Newell’s team. The company will soon be disbanded, support for current titles will be curtailed, and its writing staff will join the staff of the corporation known for Half-Life and Team Fortress 2. In addition, the production of the unannounced Snail game, alas, has been completed.
Hopoo Games co-founders Paul Morse and Duncan Drummond have departed the Risk of Rain developer to join Valve.
The studio broke the news in a post on X and revealed “many other talented [team] members” have also been hired by Valve. That cohort will be “working on game development” at the Half-Life maker and Steam owner.
It’s unclear how many Hopoo staffers have joined Valve in total, but it’s enough for the studio to cancel upcoming project codenamed ‘Snail’ and bed down for the long nap.
“It’s been an exciting and transformative 12 years. We feel lucky for the opportunities we’ve had and deeply appreciate both our team and fans that have supported us and our games,” wrote the studio.
“We love making games—and will continue to do so, for years to come. We’re excited to be working side-by-side with the talented people at Valve. But for now—sleep tight, Hopoo Games.”
Earlier this month, the devs behind the legendary Risk of Rain – one of the best roguelikes of all time – announced that they’re going to work at Valve. Now, we know that at least one of them is working on the company’s new hero shooter Deadlock, and he’s already directly responding to bug reports from players online. The Risk of Rain devs joined Valve less than a month ago, and one of the legendary roguelike’s creators is already working on Deadlock, ‘Sleep tight, Hopoo Games’: Risk of Rain developer goes dark as key staffers join Valve
Duncan “Hopoo” Drummond popped up in the official Deadlock Discord yesterday to introduce himself to players. In no time at all, he was already fielding reports and balance feedback. That Discord is only accessible to Deadlock players, but Drummond’s sudden appearance made enough of a stir to quickly make the rounds on places like Reddit.
Drummond co-created Risk of Rain alongside Paul Morse when they were both students, and eventually his online handle ‘Hopoo’ would become the name of development studio Hopoo Games. The studio grew slightly over the years, bringing in new folks for Risk of Rain 2 in particular, but Drummond remains credited as programmer, artist, co-designer, and co-producer on that original game, and is similarly credited in its sequel.
Hopoo Games history
Hopoo was established in 2012 and found success with Deadbolt and Risk of Rain, with the latter eventually becoming a bonafide franchise that spawned a sequel and a remaster. The studio sold the Risk of Rain IP to Gearbox Entertainment in 2022 for an undisclosed fee.
Valve is currently developing a MOBA shooter called Deadlock that attracted almost 90,000 concurrent players despite only being accessible via closed beta. The project was supposed to be something of a secret despite being incredibly easy to access, but Valve formally unveiled the title after player and press interest surged.
It’s unclear what projects Hopoo employees will be working on at the company. Game Developer has reached out to Hopoo for more information.
As part of Valve, the team will take on a new project. Which one is not yet clear. Recall that a similar story happened in 2018: Newell and Co. absorbed Campo Santo (Firewatch), and its employees went to work on Half-Life: Alyx.
