From their Twitter:

Tequila Works has chosen to reacquire the rights to its adventure game, RiME, and is working hard to realise [sic] its aspirations for it.

https://twitter.com/tequilaworks/status/710148806717874177

Rumor mill going way back was that this game, while looking dope, was testing super poorly. Still, for Sony-- Sony-- to walk away from this and say "hey, you want this IP back? We kind of aren't interested anymore." then you have to imagine it was in quite a state.

Interested to see if TW pulls it together to get Rime out the door eventually and to see what platforms it lands on.

Rime looked like a gorgeous game. If that's truly the reason, then that's disappointing. I think I heard people talking about how the game around the art and design wasn't super great, but that felt more like speculation.

Hopefully it comes out this year.

@clagnaught said:

As it turns out, games are still hard to make. I would've forgiven them if the gameplay was boring but I got to explore that world they were creating, and if they truly were targeting 2016 for their release and were on track to hit it, I could see Sony still taking their lumps from the critics and sticking by TW. For them to drop it though maybe points to the game's issues going way beyond simply testing poorly. It could've been a technical mess or suffered from scope-creep due to poor management, etc... Ultimately I still want to see what Tequila Works does with it. They really have something with that art style.

Which part of testing? Performance or just general game quality?

@gstats said:

The rumor a few months back was that playtesters TW (or Sony) brought in said the game was just really boring :\

But it's so pretty though. T.T

Well, maybe for the best. That game looked cool..or there was a tiny video slice that looked cool. If the game was actually reported to be "boring" it likely needs a major reworking or game play loop, and another two years.

Maaaaan, I'm seeing some crazy scuttlebutt flying about now saying that is exactly what it was. We'll just have to wait and see if someone else corroborates.

What a weird business move. Was this Sony walking away or Tequila breaking away?

@personandstuff said:

Sony was the proprietary holder of the IP and publisher of the game. It was essentially theirs to walk away from. Whatever they saw in terms of Rime's development led them to think this was no longer something they were willing to sink money into-- a pretty damning statement if true, given all the other properties Sony seems to be at least publicly fine with allowing to churn in development hell. Once they decided to drop the project, TW decided to exercise the option to re-acquire the IP. I don't know if that means that Sony had purchased the IP initially and TW had to buy it back from them or what.

The Spanish government also has money sunk into Rime's development both as direct funding via a grant as well as a loan [SOURCE], so the game can't technically be cancelled either lest the government comes asking for its money (Hello, Rhode Island!). So expect development to continue on this game, whatever that turns out to be.

There is actually some more nutty stuff [rumor at this point] regarding the state of its development, whether what was shown at any of its appearances (or to Edge) was a cinematic or vertical slice, etc.. There seems to be a lot of potentially intriguing behind-the-scenes stuff that I wouldn't mind seeing Austin do a deeper dive on what has been going on.

This is hilarious considering how long Sony has stuck by the last guardian... Which still doesn't have a fixed release date.

Not all great game playtest well, I hope Sony didn't make a dumb decision just because of that. Lot of my favourite games would be classified as "boring" by many player. Anyway, it's just speculation and I'm curious to see if the game will ever see the light of day (hope so).

@fear_the_booboo said:

Given the history of what has been shown to date, I think Sony was smart to walk away;

- Rime is revealed at Gamescom 2013

- Rime is a no-show at E3 2014 despite being a Sony IP

- A new trailer is shown at Gamescom 2014

- Rime a no-show at PSX 2014

- Rime a no-show for all of 2015

Googling "rime", "ps4", "hands-on" provides nothing. I couldn't find a single outlet that has had the chance to sit down and actually play the game, even a vertical slice; This is particularly jarring given that Edge had Rime as their cover story in their December 2014 (#273) issue. The excerpts I've seen from the issue suggest the game was only demoed for them-- or that they only saw video of what appeared to be gameplay-- and not that they had a chance to take the controller in hand themselves.

Sony was the proprietary of the IP and the publisher. It was effectively theirs to walk away from and for whatever reason, what Sony saw in the development of the game after nearly 3 years, didn't justify their continued investment and so they dropped the project and the IP (which I'm a little surprised by), allowing TW the opportunity to reacquire the rights.

As mentioned, TW had received a sizable sum from the Spanish government in the form of a modest grant and a larger loan for the game's development (unless they are working on another unnamed project). That's public money that they took and so they'll have to make good on finishing development on and shipping Rime in some form. All in all I think it's a really interesting (if convoluted) situation.

In a time where a lot of pretty but somewhat boring / lifeless games are steadily released, this is really telling.

RIP Rime, you seemed pretty but empty.

https://twitter.com/tequilaworks/status/710415425792843776

"Thanks all for your support! Rest assured we are still working on RiME, and will offer more information in due time."

@fakekisser said:

Oh most definitely. They have to.

Still, the "rest assured this project isn't dead. we are still working on this project" has been the drum they've been beating since we last saw the game in August of 2014 without any meaningful updates. Hell, according to their Twitter feed they supposedly finished crunch on Rime back in July 2015:

Ultimately, here's hoping that they can deliver something that comes close to the vibe they were going for with their trailer, and that they turn enough of a profit to not only pay back what they borrowed from the public but also to continue making games. I'm not hot on the studio's CEO/CD, but dammit if there aren't some incredibly talented artists in that group.

Aw. This was a game that got me pretty excited. It reminds me of Ico (which is honestly not a game I love, but still), and yeah, Wind Waker I suppose due to the art. I don't know the situation, but if it's the way I imagine it, it has got to suck that Sony all of a sudden doesn't want to back it. That said, it's good they are still working on it and putting it out. Hopefully it's good...

So is this game still coming out or what? Shame that Sony backed out of what ever deal they had, that's a pretty obvious setback after all, but I really like it's art style and hope we'll get to play this some day.

Gotta say I've never heard of Rime before until this thread but I think Deadlight was surprisingly good. Shame they didn't bother offering a discounted upgrade path to the Directors Cut version for existing owners though.

Well, I guess that last game they put out was a "Directors Cut" on their last game. We can hope that will be a successful cash making idea that will allow them to finish up Rime, but who knows. I think Tequilla Works biggest issue is they are sort of enmeshed in working with Deep Silver, which is at the level of saying your daughter is enmeshed with Ron Jeremy.

I wish them the best, I woudl like Tequila Works to work more on Rime, Yet, it could be awhile before they can really do that.

Wasn't paying much attention to this game, but after playing The Sexy Brutale, my curiosity is piqued.

I'm interested in this one, it looks like a good fit for a summer game. It's also been long enough since The Last Guardian that I could use a light-platformer with some puzzles going on.