Life Is Strange: Double Exposure was a divisive sequel to a beloved narrative-driven adventure series. It ended up winning the Social Impact award at the Game Developers Choice Awards last night, but following mass layoffs at developer Deck Nine Games last year, it was also one of the only games where no one was present to collect the award.
“It’s fitting that nobody was there to accept the GDCA award that Double Exposure won, because we all got laid off lol,” wrote former Deck Nine narrative designer Elizabeth Ballou on BlueSky. “A bunch of us are at GDC, but we didn’t know we were even nominated so nobody was prepared to accept anything.”
Game File’s Stephen Totilo, who was backstage at the time, added, “Nearly every game that won had people coming through, beaming with their trophy in hand. It stood out that, for Life is Strange, which won the Social Impact award, there was no one.” Other winners last night included Metaphor: ReFantazio for best narrative, Astro Bot for best technology, and Balatro for best game.
Ballou confirmed that members of the development team, who were attending GDC separately, did eventually manage to go collect the award, but for fans and others in the industry it’s a grimly ironic reminder of the current precarious state of the game industry, especially for story-driven adventure games, a once popular genre that’s struggled to find sustainable success in recent years.
Double Exposure was the latest sequel from a franchise that began under French developer Dontnod Entertainment. While the game won praise from some critics, fans also balked at certain narrative choices made for long-established characters like protagonist Max Caulfield, as well as the overall unevenness of the quality of the game across its five chapters.
Deck Nine ended up laying a number of staff following the release, including many who worked on Double Exposure’s narrative team. It was the third mass layoff at the studio in two years. Weak sales reportedly led to a “large loss” for publisher Square Enix, which owns the series. It’s unclear what Life is Strange’s future is at the moment, but Deck Nine ended Double Exposure with a plan for what came next.
“No matter what anyone thinks about certain creative calls that were made for Double Exposure, I think it’s important that people understand that they are all made with intent—we thought long and hard about every one of them, and have done our best to basically plant seeds,” game director Jon Stauder said in November. “That ending is just to say that we have a future plan…there’s not a whole lot more I can say than that. This is all heading somewhere, should folks want more after Double Exposure.”
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