Thick as Thieves Won’t Get More Content Updates as OtherSide Moves On
OtherSide Entertainment has confirmed that its co-op stealth title Thick as Thieves will not receive any further content updates, telling players the studio is instead focused on a peer-to-peer patch that will keep the game playable before handing long-term maintenance to publisher Megabit. The announcement, posted to the game’s official channels on July 23, follows two rounds of layoffs that have left the Boston-based studio with fewer than ten employees, according to reporting corroborated by Worthplaying, PC Gamer and GamingBolt.
Peer-to-Peer Patch Buys Thick as Thieves More Time Before Handover
In the developer update, OtherSide framed the change as the best of a bad situation. The studio confirmed there will be no further content updates for Thick as Thieves, adding, “To be frank, this is not the outcome that any of us want, but we’re facing the reality that ongoing development of extra content, modes and systems is not a viable path.”
Rather than simply shutting the servers off, OtherSide says it is working with Megabit on a technical overhaul so the game can survive without them. In partnership with publisher Megabit, a small dedicated team is working to secure the game’s future by putting together a new version that uses peer-to-peer servers for co-op play, with the gameplay and flow remaining virtually identical but no longer requiring cloud-hosted dedicated servers, and solo play remaining completely unaffected. Once that work is finished, Megabit will take over care of the game and respond to bugs and other issues as needed.
Fewer Than 10 Staff Remain After Back-to-Back Layoffs
The content freeze comes after OtherSide gutted its own workforce over the space of a few weeks this July. Thick as Thieves developer OtherSide Entertainment laid off 18 employees, a move that came just two weeks after the studio laid off 17 people following the cancellation of a new game it had in development, leaving “fewer than 10” people remaining employed at OtherSide and working on updates for the game. A studio spokesperson also confirmed there are “currently no plans for the studio to work on any future games.”
The cancelled project, reportedly codenamed Argos, was cut before Thick as Thieves’ own team was thinned out further. Explaining the broader collapse, a studio representative told outlets that “OtherSide’s DNA is built on immersive sim games that have lengthy development cycles. This, unfortunately, has been an increasingly challenging space to occupy in recent years. Despite the encouraging response to the launch of Thick as Thieves’ introductory campaign, it has become clear that the continuation of the studio in its current shape is no longer a commercially viable path.”
A $5 Launch Price Couldn’t Rescue an Immersive Sim Follow-Up
Thick as Thieves launched on PC on May 20 from a team stacked with immersive sim veterans, including genre pioneers behind Ultima Underworld, System Shock, Thief and Deus Ex. To lower the barrier to entry, OtherSide priced the game at just $5, hoping the low cost would build an audience large enough to justify further updates shaped by how players actually engaged with it.
That bet doesn’t appear to have paid off. Reporting on the studio’s struggles noted that judging by Steam player counts, the hoped-for surge of engagement never really materialised, undercutting the plan to fund future content from launch sales alone. The game shipped with only two maps, Constables’ Guildhall and Elway Manor, and director Jeff Hickman had previously said OtherSide deliberately avoided an Early Access label so it could keep pivoting the game’s direction based on feedback, whether that meant leaning further into co-op or eventually adding PvP.
PS5 and Xbox Series X|S Versions Left Without a Release Date
Thick as Thieves had been announced for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S alongside its PC launch, but neither console edition has shipped, and the latest update offered no clarity on their status. There was no news on the fate of the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S versions of the game. With OtherSide’s remaining staff focused solely on the peer-to-peer transition before stepping back, players hoping for a console release may be waiting on Megabit alone to decide whether that work continues.
For fans of the immersive sim genre in New Zealand and Australia, where niche PC titles like this often rely on word-of-mouth Steam communities rather than big marketing pushes, the wind-down is a familiar story: a small, passionate development team unable to translate critical goodwill into a sustainable live-service model. With OtherSide’s founders having shaped some of the genre’s most influential games, the studio’s diminished future adds to a rough stretch for the wider immersive sim space, following similar warnings from other veteran developers this year about how niche the audience for these games remains.
