Key Notes
- Astragon will wind down its Hamm-based development studio by late November while honoring existing contracts and financial obligations.
- Founded as Independent Arts Software in 1990, the studio was acquired in 2023 and renamed Astragon Development in 2025.
- The publisher says Seafarer will receive updates until the studio ends operations, while its statement does not identify a successor development team.
Astragon Entertainment will close Astragon Development, the German studio behind Seafarer: The Ship Sim, as it refocuses on publishing. The Hamm-based developer began as Independent Arts Software in 1990, giving it a history of more than three decades before its planned wind-down this month.
The publisher confirmed the decision to GamesWirtschaft, which reported that operations will end by late November. Astragon says it will fulfill existing contracts and financial obligations while working with employee representatives on socially responsible arrangements for affected staff.
Astragon Refocuses on Its Publishing Business
Astragon describes the closure as a strategic realignment toward its core publishing activities. Chief executive Tim Schmitz told GamesWirtschaft that the decision was difficult but necessary for the company’s overall strategy and long-term future.
The change concerns the development subsidiary. Astragon Entertainment remains the publisher within Everplay Group, with a portfolio focused on working simulation games. Its company profile lists Construction Simulator, Bus Simulator, Police Simulator: Patrol Officers and Firefighting Simulator among its established brands.
That business includes publishing games made by partner studios and distributing third-party titles. Closing the internal developer changes how Astragon sources production work, while leaving a separate publishing organization responsible for bringing games to market.
Independent Arts Became Astragon Development in 2025
The studio’s own history traces its founding to Holger Kuchling in Hamm in 1990. It credits the team with producing more than 250 titles across several genres and platforms, including PC, consoles, mobile devices and browsers.
Its published portfolio includes the Nintendo Switch editions of Port Royale 4 and Railway Empire, Construction Simulator console projects and Winter Games 2023. Those credits reflect a development business that worked with multiple publishers before taking the Astragon name.
Astragon acquired Independent Arts in April 2023. Its May 2025 renaming announcement presented the studio as a way to expand proprietary simulation games and strengthen in-house production across platforms, with Seafarer identified as a major example of that direction.
The same announcement described a leadership transition, with Kuchling gradually handing over operational responsibility and Christian Grunwald joining as studio manager. The closure now ends the studio’s role in a strategy that, at the time of the rebrand, emphasized closer integration and further development of owned game properties.
Seafarer Updates Are Promised Through the Wind-Down
Seafarer: The Ship Sim reached full release on September 24, 2026, according to its Steam listing, following an Early Access launch in October 2025. Steam identifies Astragon Development as the developer and Astragon Entertainment as publisher.
The maritime simulation lets players take on cargo transport, patrol, rescue and firefighting jobs across an open world inspired by Northern Europe. It supports solo play or crews of up to four players, with duties shared between participants during voyages.
In a follow-up to GamesWirtschaft, Astragon said Seafarer would receive updates until the development studio ends operations. That gives players a near-term support commitment, while the statement does not name a team that will take over afterward.
For owners, the outstanding question is therefore who will maintain the game beyond November. The publisher’s commitment to existing obligations is part of the wind-down, but it does not itself provide a longer-term update schedule.
We previously covered layoffs at Hamburg’s Fishlabs, another established German developer with a substantial history of porting and co-development. Astragon’s decision goes further by closing its development subsidiary, ending a team whose work spans generations of gaming hardware.
