If anyone was following this fiasco, they basically launched Dauntless on Steam with a major update that completely wrecked the game and removed much of its content. Dauntless was already struggling and went in weird directions during development but this was the final nail in the coffin, and the company seems to have totally gone under.
Source: https://reddit.com/r/dauntless/comments/1ibfvaq/studio_update/
I wish I could get more into this, but yes there were some major missteps during the covid/post-covid “stocks are crazy high, money is free!” period. After that there just wasn’t really a way to recover.
Unfortunately it’s pretty hard to avoid VC money, the tech industry runs on it.
It’s hard but not impossible. You’ll make less money but have much more stability.
After multiple layoffs I started freelancing. The autonomy and multiple streams of income has been great for my mental health.