Chronicles of Elyria is back at it this month with a new developer journal. In the latest journal by Soulbound Studios owner Jeromy “Caspian” Walsh, the financial numbers have been detailed in what appears to be a lengthy list of expenses. These expenditures are meant to outline what Chronicles of Elyria has cost Soulbound Studios since the development started in 2016. After a successful Kickstarter campaign that raised $1.3 million and an additional $7.7 million raised via their website, the game was originally marked for a December 2017 release. However, the game will likely never see the light of day, and the studio has been marred by numerous setbacks, including layoffs, lawsuits, and a hiatus.
The latest dev blog from the Chronicles of Elyria ‘team’, posted in July 2023, provides a financial breakdown of the studio's expenditures. While the transparency might be appreciated by some, it raises more questions than it answers. The financials at this stage don’t appear to follow much in the way of the current phase of development, but rather expenditures during the time the game was in active development from 2017 to 2019. In many ways, it seem to be an attempt to justify the lack of progress, but they only serve to highlight the mismanagement of funds and the failure to deliver on promises.
The update reveals that the studio has spent a significant portion of its funds on salaries and benefits, despite Walsh himself stating he currently is not taking a salary, nor has since 2020. This raises questions about the allocation of funds and the studio's priorities. Furthermore, the update mentions the loss of employees, with the studio now unsurprisingly hosting only a single developer.
The post also includes a section on "lessons learned", which seems to be an attempt to acknowledge past mistakes. However, it comes across as too little, too late. The studio has had years to learn from its mistakes, yet it continues to disappoint its backers. More importantly, the lesson’s learned seems to highlight how little Walsh was prepared to run a studio, as he “learned” about payroll taxes, health insurance, liability insurance, and generally how crowdfunding income works, stating, “as an employer relying on crowdfunding or residual income, hiring new people is challenging when you can't say you'll be able to keep them employed for longer than 6-12 months with 100% certainty. It's a super stressful existence, and, in general, I don't recommend it.”
Looking at the history of Chronicles of Elyria, it's hard not to be skeptical of journals like this as anything other than self serving. The game has been plagued by controversies, from the failure to meet release timelines to a class-action lawsuit filed by backers demanding refunds. The lawsuit, which was filed in response to the game's abrupt shutdown after delivering nothing more than a basic parkour demo in 2020, was dismissed in October 2022. However, the dismissal of the lawsuit does not absolve the studio of its failures.
The recent post seems to be an attempt to cover Walsh's bases from Kickstarter backers asking for their money back, stating that there is no money left. However, this raises the question: what was the purpose of posting these financials, apart from attempting to deflect blame? Perhaps to show how difficult it is to budget when you have no idea what your general expenses would be?
Whether Chronicles of Elyria will ever actually materialize, or whether these blogs continue as a way to placate Walsh’s feelings after belly flopping millions, the skepticism surrounding Chronicles of Elyria is still well-deserved, and it's clear that Walsh seems more interested in explaining that failure rather than moving forward, and away, from the Elyria IP altogether.
