// KOTAKU — GAMING
The Studio Behind A 2025 Xbox Showcase Surprise Just Went Bankrupt
In case there was still any doubt, you will not be playing Mudang: Two Hearts on Xbox Series X/S or any other platform. The impressive-looking Splinter Cell-like stealth-action game out of South Korea is seemingly no more. The studio behind it declared bankruptcy earlier this month.
An official court document from the nation’s corporate register was shared on the Mudang subreddit earlier today. It showed that the 11th Division of the Seoul Bankruptcy Court had declared EVRStudio bankrupt back on June 5. Founded back in 2016, the company initially made a splash with a Bohwagak VR exhibit for the Gansong Art Museum. It later pivoted to Metaverse content for marketing and advertisers, before trying to parlay its technical expertise into game development.
The culmination of those bets was the 2025 reveal of Mudang: Two Hearts at Xbox’s big summer showcase. The third-person shooter had action sequences that looked almost too good to be true and promised a 2026 release window. The trailer garnered nearly half a million views. The comments were glowing. “This looks insane!” one read. “Great military atmosphere, intense gunplay and nice looking characters. Looking forward to it!” Another person wrote, “Korean Splinter Cell. Amazing.”
But instead of another surprise hit out of South Korea, Mudang: Two Hearts appears to be the latest high profile piece of showcase vaporware. Need4Game reported earlier this year that EVR was already facing financial difficulties and laying off developers. Months later, Korean press reports that the company was bleeding money as investment buzz around the Metaverse died following the pandemic. With no real money coming in, the losses started to pile up.
Was Mudang: Two Hearts actually close to being a feature-complete game, or even a barely functional one? The fact that no one else seemingly swooped in to save it or buy it from EVR raises fresh doubts. The dream of a spiritual successor to Splinter Cell lives on. Ubisoft seems to still be struggling to even deliver a remake of the original.
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