on a May 12 YouTube livestream celebrating the publisher\u2019s return<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nReuss has now confirmed he decided not to renew Spirit Island’s publishing agreement with Flat River in the wake of its decision to lay off staff at Greater than Games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said, “I originally signed Spirit Island with Greater Than Games, which was acquired by Flat River Group around 2021-2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“In April 2025, FRG laid off nearly all Greater Than Games staff – the folks I’d been working with – and announced the suspension of all new projects. I submitted my non-renewal thereafter.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reuss said his agreement specifies that once Flat River’s licence expires, the company can no longer use the Spirit Island trademark or sell new copies beyond existing inventory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But he added that ownership of the game’s artwork and graphical assets was “less crystal-clear”, and that negotiations with Flat River to reach a deal over the artwork rights had come to nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said in the update, “I’d be happy to pay Flat River Group to settle this matter and use the existing art, but what they’re asking for is so much higher than what I’m willing to pay that I have to assume a settlement won\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“To mitigate legal risk, I’m commissioning completely new non-derivative art, graphical assets, etc.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added that he would not consider running a crowdfund from fans to raise money for acquiring the art assets from Flat River, saying, “Given that I don\u2019t feel OK paying that much money, I really don\u2019t feel OK asking Spirit Island fans to pay that much money.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reuss said new non-Flat River Group versions of the game would retain the same gameplay, spirits, powers, adversaries and expansions, but with entirely new visual interpretations, promising “vibrant, colorful, representational art”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the extensive visual overhaul, Reuss stressed that no second edition was currently planned, with only minor rules clarifications and potential balance tweaks currently under consideration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said his design priority remains the long-awaited Dahan-focused expansion, although recommissioning Spirit Island’s artwork was likely to delay development of that project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The designer also confirmed that he has no plans to use generative AI artwork in the project, primarily because he wanted to “collaborate with, support, and celebrate human artists”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added in the update, “Ssecondarily because (a) all image-creating GenAI I know of was trained unethically, and (b) while queries aren\u2019t so environmentally terrible as is sometimes asserted, training new models is another story entirely (and using GenAI bolsters demand for training new models).”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He continued “I\u2019m not dogmatically anti-GenAI \u2013 I\u2019d love to see ethically trained, environmentally conscientious, explainable, non-toxic, reasonably-secure public-option GenAI. Though that doesn\u2019t address the impact on illustrators and other jobs, so maybe also UBI or something? One can dream.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reuss said that although dozens of publishers had expressing interest in Spirit Island since April last year, he added that if negotiations ultimately failed he would self-publish the game himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said, “Spirit Island will continue being published, and I’m going to keep working on making new stuff for it. It’s not going away.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n