Paradox Interactive has announced it is parting ways with BattleTech developer Harebrained Schemes, citing "strategic and creative priorities". The seperation follows last week's news that Harebrained Schemes' The Lamplighters League has been a $22m flop for Paradox.

Harebrained was founded in 2011 by Mitch Gitelman and Jordan Weisman (co-creator of the BattleTech and MechWarrior universe), and was acquired by Paradox Interactive in 2018 after it published the studio's critically acclaimed BattleTech game that same year.

The Lamplighters League, which launched earlier this month, was Harebrained's first release as a Paradox studio but it arrived to middling reviews and failed to generate much commercial interest. Paradox went as far as to call its commercial performance a "big disappointment" last week, when it admitted the pulp strategy game was unlikely to recoup its development costs, resulting in a $22.7m USD write-down.

Soon after, Paradox confirmed it had laid off a substantial portion of Harebrained, and while it did not provide numbers (a former employee claimed the layoffs affected around 80% of the team on Resetera), it did admit "staff was significantly reduced over the summer as the game entered its last phase of development and launch preparations."

And now Paradox says it will "part ways" with Harebrained as of 1st January 2024, calling the separation the "result of a mutual agreement". In a statement shared on its website, the publisher said it had "refocused its strategy towards its core niches within strategy and management games with endless qualities", and after discussing "what would happen after the release of The Lamplighters League" with Harebrained Schemes had concluded a "new project or sequel in the same genre was not in line with our portfolio plans."

Harebrained will continue to support The Lamplighters League until the end of this year while it seeks "new publishing, partnership, and investment opportunities". Paradox says it will retain ownership of The Lamplighters League and "other games developed by the studio".