Risk of Rain studio Hopoo sunsets itself as its founders join Valve

Hopoo Games was a Seattle indie studio best known for the Risk of Rain action-roguelike series.

Duncan Drummond and Paul Morse founded Hopoo in 2012 as UW students. Their debut, Risk of Rain, debuted on Steam in 2013 and became a sales success; the Unity-built sequel, Risk of Rain 2, followed in 2019.

In November 2022 Hopoo sold the rights to Risk of Rain 2 to its publishing partner Gearbox Entertainment (Borderlands) while remaining independent; Gearbox continued development with expansions like Seekers of the Storm. On 2 September 2024, Hopoo announced its founders and 'many other' team members were going full-time on internal projects at Valve — it ceased production on its codenamed 'Snail' project and shut its doors: 'But for now – sleep tight, Hopoo Games.'

The studio closed; the team now develops games inside Valve, which has not said what they are working on — Valve's highest-profile internal project is the hero-shooter/MOBA hybrid Deadlock.

The Gearbox sale had already monetised the franchise; the team itself was the remaining asset.

Valve hires proven shipping teams, and a compact indie studio fits its famously flat structure.

Sunsetting voluntarily let the founders choose their landing instead of risking a slow fade.

Selling the IP while keeping the team is a half-exit that often precedes the whole exit: studios are their people, not their catalogues.

Neither Valve nor Hopoo revealed what the team is building; Valve's most prominent internal project at the time was Deadlock.