Indie dev behind beloved boomerang shooter shuts down because 'we are out of money'

(Image credit: Devolver Digital)

The New York-based indie studio Dang is closing after releasing only one game, but what a game. The hyper-fast and movement-focused Boomerang X released in 2021 and was notable among other things for supporting an experimental type of gyro controller, the Flick Stick, as well as mouse-and-keyboard, so that players could whizz its deadly shuriken-boomerang around in the fanciest of patterns. The game sits with around 800 "Overwhelmingly Positive" reviews on Steam though, judging by this announcement, that sadly didn't translate to sales.

Dang announced its shuttering via a screenshot of a statement written in Notepad, which is certainly a vibe—the studio later said it was because "none of us really wanted to make a professional-looking closure announcement". The studio was led by Ben Caulkins and included Janice Ho, Perrin Mercer, Sam Suite and Fuller Taylor, with the statement saying:

"Dang is closing up shop. Unfortunately we were not able to find funding for our next game and we are out of money. We're not writing off the possibility of working on some small stuff together in the future but for now we're all going our separate ways. Thanks to all the love you've shown to us over the years and thanks for playing Boomerang X. Farewell, DANG! forever."

Boomerang X will remain on-sale despite the closure, while the studio's social account acknowledged fans suggesting crowdfunding but said "it's never quite made sense for our situation."

Dang had announced its second game, IO Interloper, which has a Steam page that lists it as coming soon, though this is clearly the game that funding could not be secured for. I don't know why because the Steam description of it is immaculate: "IO Interloper is a hacking heist game all about peering through security cameras, piloting drones, duping rubes, and saying I'M IN in a really gruff voice." Pitched as a hacking heist that becomes an investigation into the "seemingly metaphysical secrets of the biggest company in history", it's a bit of a bummer we'll never get to load it up and say I'M IN.

Rich is a games journalist with 15 years' experience, beginning his career on Edge magazine before working for a wide range of outlets, including Ars Technica, Eurogamer, GamesRadar+, Gamespot, the Guardian, IGN, the New Statesman, Polygon, and Vice. He was the editor of Kotaku UK, the UK arm of Kotaku, for three years before joining PC Gamer. He is the author of a Brief History of Video Games, a full history of the medium, which the Midwest Book Review described as "[a] must-read for serious minded game historians and curious video game connoisseurs alike."