It’s been almost two weeks since the sudden cancellation of the promising P.T.-inspired psychological horror game Allison Road. The befuddling decision went by for a weirdly long time with nary an explanation provided by developer Lilith Ltd. or Team17, the publisher they announced a partnership with last October, just nine days before the game’s crowdfunding campaign would’ve ended. When the deal was made, Allison Road had raised more than $224,000.

That’s a lot of money, but Lilith Ltd. saw more value in a partnership with Team17, and the “resources, support and experience that only a 25 year old studio can give,” as they explained in a Kickstarter update for their 4,482 backers. Making games is tough, so it made perfect sense that a new developer would want to have someone on their side who understood the landscape. So what was the insurmountable obstacle that appeared like a ghost in the bathroom mirror to ensure Allison Road met the same fate as the game that inspired it?

I was hopeful we might glean that answer from the statement they spent nearly two full weeks preparing for us, but we’ll just have to settle for whatever this is.

Hi all,

After a long consideration between Team17 and ourselves, we have reached a mutual agreement to end our collaboration on publishing Allison Road under Team17’s Games label.

Sometime things pan out differently than expected as game development and publishing have so many layers of complexity… We’d like to especially thank everyone for their support through-out, it has and will always be appreciated!

I’m glad we were able to clear this up.