Turtle Rock Evolves Past Evolve

Turtle Rock Studios has a new update on their forums announcing that today is the last day they can work on Evolve (thanks nin). This is apparently contractual, as they note: "This is the life of AAA game developers who aren’t self-funded and don’t own their own IP. We don’t get to make the call." The game received an extensive rework over the summer to relaunch as the free-to-play Evolve Stage 2, and they express pride in that and the original game, and regrets that Stage 2 never made it to consoles. They don't specify what their next project is, but say they have "lots of stuff in the works." Here's a bit of the post:
It’s always hard to leave one of our games behind. Left4Dead was no different and now it’s Evolve’s turn. There will always be a special place in our hearts for our past projects. No matter what happens with Evolve in the future, we’ll know it was born in this studio and developed by this team alongside this beautiful community.

This is the life of AAA game developers who aren’t self-funded and don’t own their own IP. We don’t get to make the call. We all know that going in but we still sign the dotted line because we love what we do. We are happy to have gotten the opportunity to do something risky, something new and innovative. We created a brand new Sci-Fi world. We got to go to planet Shear and interact with alien flora and fauna. We got to hunt down, trap and kill giant monsters together. We got to BE the monster. What an awesome experience.

The last five and a half years represents so much. We are so proud of Evolve, the Turtle Rock team and the Evolve community. Getting on the forums, Reddit, Facebook and Twitch and talking directly to you has been a highlight of many of our careers. On no other project have we ever been able to interact so directly. The Evolve community is the best we could have hoped for and we hope you come with us and become a part of the Turtle Rock community.