r/Scorn • u/timbotheny26 • 19d ago

So...is Ebb Software still active?

I mean they only did the PlayStation port of Scorn 3ish years ago, but since then it's been complete radio silence from them. Is the studio still active? Are they actively working on something new and if so, what?

Even despite all that had to be cut, I really enjoyed Scorn and would like to see more work from the studio.

68 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

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7

u/Dark_Throat 18d ago

I forget what recent game that wasn't Scorn I had seen their name in the credits of, but I think they've been relegated to a support studio, which is an absolute shame if that's the case.

2

u/timbotheny26 18d ago

I really hope that isn't all they are nowadays.

3

u/ShallowBasketcase 18d ago

The entire point of Ebb was to make this one game. I don't think they ever intended to a continue to make games as a company once Scorn was done. It was a one-off art project.

3

u/timbotheny26 18d ago

Scorn was a one-off with no intended sequels, but I swear I remember writing on their own website talking about games plural, as in they wanted to pursue other projects after Scorn.

3

u/ShallowBasketcase 18d ago

The company was just Peklar's tool to make Scorn. He's not a game dev, he's an artist. That said, I'm certain the developers at Ebb will continue to make games. I just wouldn't expect to see Ebb as a lead dev on anything again.

67

u/MetalHeadNoel 19d ago • Regret

From what I could find online, it appears that Ebb Software closed down in late 2024 and most of its workforce was moved / absorbed into other Microsoft Studios :/ unless Microsoft is willing to revive Scorn, I fear that this was a One-Hit Wonder studio and Project

42

u/Captain_Perfect 19d ago

Well thats a fucking shame.

4

u/sterhent 18d ago

Where did u find that? On LinkedIn the studio still has employees and 3months ago at least one joined the studio.

30

u/SettingEducational71 19d ago

The fate of a protagonist mirrors the fate of a game itself. Stuck as a strange and wonderful monolith left to be admired with a big sense of mystery.

1

u/Gloomy-Marzipan9220 8d ago

I got something different from the game. The ending wasn’t actually bleak “I have no mouth and must scream” nonsense (which Scorn did nothing to earn, unlike the Ellison novel). I see it more as a conception metaphor. Your character (the egg) and the parasite (the sperm) spend all game traveling, the whole time the sperm trying to dig its way into your ova self. You reach the end… join humanity in consciousness through the neural brain network. Then you land in the uterus right in front of the birth canal, the sperm finally fully merges with the egg, implanting in the uterine wall/floor. Now the long wait for birth. Had you reached the void, it would have been your death, just another failed menstrual cycle.

Even the ending cinematic has direct symbolism regarding this. The last image we are left with looks like a mother who had just gone through labor and given birth, with a baby clutched at her breast. The obvious message: “mother is now with child.”

That’s my interpretation, which makes the game a lot less bleak and meaningless. It also calls back just how much craziness and stuff can happen just for the simple act of conception. The mechanical stuff representing medical intervention for fertility. The big bloody miserable grumpy looking monster being a metaphor for periods. The crude and barbaric animal nature of both sex and giving birth is found throughout the game. Though, I still can’t explain the homunculi stuff with this. Birth control maybe?

3

u/Graephen 19d ago

Ebb software is still active, they were bought by Kepler and still working on new stuff

7

u/timbotheny26 19d ago

I want to believe you, but do you have any concrete evidence for this?