The Witchfire team received various cooperation or investment proposals but never sold shares of the studio. The cost of maintaining independence and financial prudence is that the game may ultimately take nearly ten years to complete.
Witchfire was first unveiled at The Game Awards 2017 and has been in Early Access for over three years, gradually approaching version 1.0, though an exact release date remains undetermined. Adrian Chmielarz, founder and game director of The Astronauts, stated that the team rejected proposals from "almost everyone we could think of" in order to remain truly independent.
The studio uses its own funds to cover project and team costs, so it is reluctant to expand prematurely. The current core team consists of 26 people, collaborating with external personnel responsible for trailer production, concept design, and other tasks.
During development, the team abandoned a random arena scheme similar to Killing Floor combined with Slay the Spire, instead transforming the game into a semi-open level-based work with immersive sim tendencies. This directional shift further increased development time and costs.
The game will launch on the Epic Games Store during Early Access, followed by a release on Steam. The team stated that this arrangement was inspired by Hades, aiming to refine the core loop using feedback from a smaller player base first. Version 0.9 has already added swamp maps and large quests, while version 1.0 will expand the storyline, backstory, investigation, and exploration content. The team does not plan to wipe save files in principle, but this may change if unforeseen technical issues arise; due to changes in the story and environment, the team still recommends players start anew.