“This is the hardest message we have ever had to write to you.” That is how Raw Power Games began the statement posted on X and Steam on 30 October — an announcement that the Copenhagen studio behind Chronicles: Medieval has lost its funding and is “at real risk of closing” before the game ever reaches players.
‘We’re not going to sugarcoat it’
“Due to circumstances outside our control, the necessary funding behind Raw Power Games is no longer in place,” the statement read. “Without it we can’t keep building Chronicles: Medieval, and right now the studio is at real risk of closing. We’re not going to sugarcoat. You deserve to hear it plainly, and directly from us.”
The studio did not say where the money had come from or why it was withdrawn, nor how many people it employs or whether any jobs have already been cut. What it did confirm is that “real talks” are under way with “everyone who might help us find a way forward” — publishers, investors, possibly grant programmes — without any promise of a happy ending.
“We don’t know yet how this ends. But in the spirit of our game we’re not going down without a fight!”
Early Access was within reach
What makes the timing cruel is proximity. Chronicles: Medieval is a medieval open-world action/strategy sandbox that lets players command large battles from above, then drop into a single commander at ground level for third-person action. It was revealed at Summer Game Fest 2025, and in August the studio delayed Early Access to early 2027 so it could keep refining the game.
This week’s statement says that Early Access is “within reach,” with the world “finally starting to feel alive” after years of building. The message to the team was pointed: staff in Copenhagen and remote workers “put everything they have into this game, often far beyond what anyone asked of them,” and “they are the ones carrying the heaviest weight right now.”
Industry watchers will hear an echo in the timing. It has been a brutal year for mid-sized studios dependent on external money — Heart Machine was forced into layoffs when a publisher withdrew its funding mid-development, and the pattern of near-complete projects dying at the finish line keeps repeating.
From Tom Hardy to this
The interest in Chronicles: Medieval was never the problem. Its announcement trailer, narrated by Tom Hardy, drew more than two million views on IGN’s YouTube channel alone, and the game has been previewed twice since — most recently at gamescom 2026, where hands-on impressions praised “the scale and detail of the battles” and called the ability to jump into a commander at ground level “really cool,” even while noting the build still felt early.
The Steam page continues to list a 2027 release, though after this week that should not be treated as a guarantee. Neither the closure of the studio nor the cancellation of the game has been confirmed — both remain live possibilities.
Can a publisher still rescue Raw Power Games?
Rescue paths exist. Publishers do occasionally adopt promising projects that stall for financial reasons, particularly ones with this much visible appetite — a narrated trailer with millions of views, strong preview coverage and a wishlisted audience are exactly the assets an investor wants to see. Government grants and private backers are other options the studio hinted at when it referenced talks with “everyone who might help.”
For fans, Raw Power’s ask is modest: keep Chronicles: Medieval wishlisted and keep talking about it. In return the studio promises honesty “whether the news is good or bad, and that you will hear it from us first.”
A studio closing weeks — perhaps months — from Early Access is more than one game’s misfortune. Ambitious, dense sandbox projects are funded on faith, and this week that faith ran out in Copenhagen. Whether it can be rebuilt in time is now the only question that matters.
