Tales of Kenzera: ZAU’s Surgent Studios announces hiatus

Posted on October 19, 2024

Surgent Studios, the company behind Tales of Kenzera: ZAU, has announced its hiatus. The announcement was made on X/Twitter, stating that it has put the games division team on notice of redundancy and is now searching for a partner if they want to continue making games.

According to the full statement, Surgent Studios has a prototype ready for its next project and it’s now trying to secure funding in order to make it happen. It described its next potential project as “darker, edgier, and more visceral” than ZAU, yet maintaining “high-octane combat and cultural depth.” The statement also teased other exciting updates for Tales of Kenzera: ZAU but needs to secure more funding or find a partner if it wants to make it happen.

Surgent Studios CEO and video game voice actor, Abubakar Salim, has released his statement via a quote tweet, stating that their work on Tales of Kenzera: ZAU is coming to a close, but he wants to hear back from the fans on what they want to see next. Also, he commented on the team on Surgent Studios, saying that they still have “a ton of energy and excitement” and they want to do more since the release of their debut game.

“Our work on #ZauTheGame is coming to a close (although there’s a little more on the way). Now we’re looking to the future with our next project…and we need a partner. We have a few irons in the fire, but YOU can help move the needle by telling us what you thought of ZAU and whether you want to see what Surgent can do next. There’s still a ton of energy and excitement in this incredible team, and we want the chance to reconvene and build on what we’ve done with our debut game.”

Salim spoke to Checkpoint during PAX Aus 2024 about the future of Surgent Studios. While it was still too early to get information about the company’s next project, the CEO was enthusiastic about the team’s passion and excitement and was keen to do the next big thing.

“There are a hundred and one stories that I’d want to tell through video games. I think like, we’re at a place now where it’s, we’ve kind of done our first thing. We want to do more, we wanna kinda, you know, bring more out there. And the team are really excited and are jumping to something kinda really cool next. So, yeah. I think it’s important to tell stories through games, coz games are awesome.”

Surgent Studios is a production house and game development company in the UK. Tales of Kenzera: ZAU was first announced at The Game Awards in 2023 and was released in April 2024. The game was inspired by Salim’s experience of grief following the death of his father, and also had huge influences from Kenyan culture and mythology. Since its release, it received an average Metacritic score of 76/100 on PC and is now available to download on Steam.