DRIFTBORN is now ATHOLITE, here's why

If you've been following our development for a while, you've probably noticed that something has changed. DRIFTBORN is now officially ATHOLITE. We wish we could tell you this was something we had planned for a long time, but unfortunately, that's not the case. Over the past few months, we've been dealing with a legal dispute surrounding the name DRIFTBORN, involving another project using the same name. We don't know a whole lot about this other project, and we don't want to turn this post into a discussion about them or the people behind it. That's not what this is about. What we do want to make clear is that this rebrand was not something we wanted to do. We've spent almost a year building DRIFTBORN into what it is today. From the very first concepts and development updates to our Steam page, our community, and everything we've worked so hard to achieve under that name. Having to walk away from that identity is frustrating, to say the least. Unfortunately, we're also a small independent studio, and there's only so much time, money, and energy we can afford to spend dealing with legal disputes. At some point, you have to ask yourself whether continuing to fight over a name is really worth putting the future of an entire project at risk. And for us, the answer was no. We decided to cut our losses, protect ourselves and the studio, and put an end to this situation so we can finally move forward. DISCLAIMER: Our decision to change the name does not mean the other party won, nor does it mean we're acknowledging that their claims were correct. We made a practical decision to stop pursuing a dispute that could otherwise continue costing us valuable resources. We would much rather spend that money and energy making the game we've promised our community than continue dealing with legal back-and-forth. That doesn't make the situation any less disappointing, and I won't pretend we're particularly happy about how we ended up here. But sometimes the best decision for a project isn't necessarily the one you wanted to make. So, what happens to the game? Thankfully, absolutely nothing changes about the game itself. ATHOLITE is still the same multiplayer creature adventure we've been working on all this time. The creatures, the world, the racing, the gameplay systems, our development plans, and most importantly, our team and community are all staying exactly where they are. We're not starting over, and none of the progress we've made is being thrown away. Our existing Steam page has already been updated to ATHOLITE, meaning your wishlists and everything associated with the game remain intact. We'll also be transitioning our website, social media, and other platforms to the new name. Now, despite everything We've said, I do want to end this on a more positive note. While we're certainly not happy about the circumstances that forced us to make this decision, ATHOLITE is a name we've genuinely started to love. It fits the world we're creating, has its own meaning within the game's universe, and gives us an opportunity to develop a visual identity that we feel suits the game incredibly well. We've already been working behind the scenes on new branding, artwork, and an entirely redesigned website to go along with it. So while this definitely wasn't the way we imagined things going, we're making the best of it. And who knows, maybe a year from now we'll look back and realize this change actually worked out for the better. :) Thank you to everyone who's been supporting us throughout development. Whether you found us when we were still DRIFTBORN or you're only just discovering ATHOLITE, we really appreciate you being here. The name might have changed, but the game we're building hasn't. Love, Redstride Studio