Work on Steam FPS Game Paused Because Dev is Going to Prison for 3 Years

Fans of the Steam FPS Fortune’s Run will be disappointed to learn the game may be stuck in early access for a long time, as the creator is going to prison for three years. News of paused development is nothing new for Steam games, but most delays usually come from financial pressures or technical struggles. Fortune’s Run faces a unique situation, with its sole developer being unable to work on the game because of jail time.

Before the news of its developer’s prison time, Fortune’s Run enjoyed decent success on Steam. It has a “Very Positive” rating, with many players praising its nostalgic art style and creative gameplay, all while still being in early access. Unfortunately, any updates will now take a while to roll out. Plenty of titles like Half-Life 2 have survived development hell in the past, so this may not be the end for Fortune’s Run, but its future is uncertain.

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The creator and lone developer of Fortune’s Run, who goes by Dizzie, broke the news in a Steam update on January 14. Not wasting any time, Dizzie announced upfront that they had been sentenced to prison for three years, which would interrupt development until they’re released. While the dev didn’t say what the crime in question was, they did say it happened before they started on Fortune’s Run and that they were “a very violent person” durinig that period of their life. Dizzie isn’t the only video game personality to face criminal charges lately — streamer Johnny Somali has been arrested in South Korea and faces jail time — but it is unusual to see a game get delayed because of a prison sentence.

Progress on Fortune’s Run Won’t Continue Until Developer Is Released From Prison

Fortune’s Run originally had another team member, but according to the latest update, they left the project after recovering from a botched surgery and decided they were “no longer interested in game development.” As a result, Dizzie is currently the only person working on the game, so its development will pause entirely while they serve their sentence, which begins in February 2025. The title’s Steam page still says it aims to be out of early access by 2026, but it almost certainly won’t hit that target now. Still, Satisfactory took over five years to leave early access, so a three-year delay for Fortune’s Run wouldn’t be anything unheard of in the indie game community.

Dizzie emphasized in the post that they should be able to finish the game once they’re out of prison. Fans will still be able to play the game in its current state until then, and there are many great early access shooters on Steam that may fill the void until Dizzie can resume development.

Steam

Steam is a digital video game storefront and program developed by Valve that allows gamers to purchase, play, and mod their titles all through one convenient program.

Brand

Valve

Original Release Date

September 12, 2003

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N/A

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