Chucklefish on why Witchbrook has taken a decade to release

Donna Orlowski, the COO of Chucklefish, has explained why Witchbrook has taken so long to release.

Back in 2016, the project was first teased. A year later, it was announced as Spellbrook, and then became Witchbrook in 2018. We’ve essentially seen the last decade fly by, but the game has still yet to debut.

Orlowski gave some insight into the situation in a recent interview with Knowledge. The initial delay took place since the team wanted to go beyond the idea that the game was just a mix of Harry Potter and Stardew Valley. The team has been focusing on the simulation aspect and wants to offer an experience in which players “will never want to leave”.

Orlowski’s full words:

“I think it’s not unknown that we’re trying to improve on an existing experience. The most important thing in developing this game was to ensure that what we do build is going to meet not only our expectations but expectations of an audience that has been given so much already. How can we ensure that it’s not just another similar experience?

When we went full-on on the project in 2019, we decided to slightly shift the focus from people [who] kept saying, ‘It’s Harry Potter meets Stardew Valley’ to making something more unique. That was the cause of the delay. We’re very happy where we are with the development right now. Our focus is on the simulation, so we hope that people, the moment they go into the world, will never want to leave.”

Witchbrook is finally set to appear this year, and it’s hitting both Nintendo Switch 2 and Switch. You can get a look at the project here.