Indie studio Fullbright’s upcoming third gameOpen Roadsis in the middle of a massive studio shift over two years after its announcement.Open Roadswas first revealed at The Game Awards 2020, and since then, the renowned studio has had to deal with some serious speedbumps.
Fullbright became responsible for the critically acclaimed indie darlingGone Homein 2013, a formative title that helped shape the first-person, story-driven indie adventure genre in the years to follow. Following that, 2017 saw the release ofFullbright’s second titleTacoma. Starring Keri Russell and Kaitlyn Dever,Open Roadsis set to have players exploring family history through a mother-daughter relationship on a long road trip. In 2021, it had been reported that studio founder and creative lead Steve Gaynor had been exhibiting toxic behavior toward multiple team members, leading to the departure of most of the studio and the indefinite delay ofOpen Roads. Later, Gaynor stepped down as creative lead but remained on the project as part of Fullbright.
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Gaynor added that, as a solo developer, he’s been working on a new Fullbright game for the past year. Meanwhile, the acclaimed indie publisher Annapurna Interactive, responsible for publishingmasterpieces such asOuter Wilds,What Remains of Edith Finch, andKentucky Route Zero,among many others, will continue to support theOpen Roadsteam as it works to bring the long-awaited title to the finish line in the coming weeks.
As for Gaynor, it’s unknown whether he’ll attempt to staff up Fullbright once again to work on future games. It would likely be difficult to do so considering the toxic reputation he’s garnered over the past several years. On a more positive note, it will be interesting to see if theOpen Roadsteam will form their own new indie studio after the game is released. It’s nice to see the team was able to separate from Fullbright while maintaining control of their work onOpen Roads, all with thesupport of Annapurna Interactive.
Open Roadsis in development for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
