Prytania Media continues shutdown procession with Dawon Entertainment closure

Triple-A cohort Prytania Media has continued its spate of studio closures by shuttering Dawon Entertainment.

Dawon only opened its doors in August 2023 but in a post on Linkedin announced it will shut down on May 10, 2024.

“We derived tremendous joy from working together on a delightful project, motivated by a vision of what mobile games could look like in India and abroad. We still believe we would have changed the world,” reads the statement.

“But keep an eye out! Our developers still might. They are some of the most skilled and grounded people in the industry. If you have any open roles that they may be a fit for, please reach out.”

Prytania described Dawon as its first “emerging–markets studio.” The company was based in Bangalore, India, and led by award-winning designer Whitney Beltrán, formerly of Hidden Path Entertainment.

Dawon was established to develop “culturally focused” titles it claimed would be created “by Indian developers, for Indian players.”

At the time of Dawon’s formation, Prytania had four studios operating under its banner in Fang & Claw, Possibility Space, Crop Circle Games, and Dawon itself. Three of those studios have since been axed.

Prytania shuttered Crop Circle in March after initially furloughing its development team. Those impacted publicly called out Prytania leadership over their handling of the situation.

A few weeks later, Prytania called time on Possibility Space. In a bizarre turn of events, Prytania co-founder Jeff Strain attempted to attribute that closure to an (as then) unpublished report from Kotaku. He claimed certain team members had leaked information about an upcoming project codenamed ‘Vonnegut’ to Kotaku, resulting in its cancellation. Those impacted claimed the layoffs were made “without notice.”