Supergiant Games, makers of Bastion and Transistor, had a break-in amid the ongoing pandemic in a downtown San Francisco office that was, luckily, empty. The fifth episode in Noclip's ongoing docuseries Hades: Developing Hell discloses the events in great detail, exploring not only how COVID-19 has affected Supergiant's daily work cycle but also showcasing how far along Hades itself has come in the process, with many of the individual dev's personal road bumps made to bear in between.
From Halo: Infinite to Deathloop, the pandemic has clearly wreaked havoc across the industry and, not to mention, the world. It has had its positives for some, like Sony's 50% increase in profits and far higher Twitch viewer volume, but for the most part, it has been bleak. For Supergiant Games, designing and collaborating on the top-down roguelike that is Hades has seemingly remained in full swing, though only by way of a remote working condition since the very beginning of the shutdown nearly 6 months prior.
However, coronavirus has not been the only thing impeding upon the developer's work cycle, as in June the company experienced a break-in at their offices amid ongoing protests in the area. Several individuals broke in with the intention of walking away with some expensive equipment, as Studio Director Amir Rao details the stolen goods as "a lot of the instruments that we use to make the soundtracks for some of our games, and a bunch of other stuff was taken, too."
Returning to the offices for his filming of the Nintendo Switch launch announcement, Rao observes a surreal feeling overcome him being back in the wake of the burglary. He showcases a "Mad Max barricade" of the door made by colleague Gavin, due to their front entrance being completely busted, explaining there were several additional attempts to break-in, as well. Later in the Noclip video, he relates that the perpetrators had attempted this before.
Greg Kasavin, Supergiant Creative Director, likewise notes the office's surrounding area breeds this kind of activity and, though he doesn't excuse the event, he does seemingly understand it. "For a bunch of thieves, they were relatively polite in that they didn't just ransack, trash the place," he observes. For Kasavin, it's all about ensuring Hades itself is at its most impeccable, still feigning simultaneous surprise and glee at the 98% positive rating the game received in early access on Steam.
Fortunately, Hades remains on track despite the various impediments, bringing all hell along with it upon the release of version 1.0.