The state of the world is leaving gaps where fruitful businesses one stood. The latest hole is being left by Dust Studio, creators of Dust 1947. After 12 years of serving the miniature community, Dust announced it will cease operations.
“Of course it’s a sad day for us, but at the same time we are very proud and happy of what we accomplished,” the announcement read. Like so many studios around the world, economic turmoil has forced closures or changes to daily practices to keep up with rising costs. Dust Studio owners Paolo and Olivier stated that there were “many factors” that led to the studio’s closure. Among them were increased shipping costs, rising import taxes, and the new costs of raw materials and labor. Additionally, though Dust Studio continued to operate throughout the pandemic, it ultimately succumbed to the state of the world post-COVID-19’s appearance.
“Thanks to you, we managed to build an awesome community of players, collectors and enthusiasts around the world, Paolo and Olivier wrote on the official Dust 1947 website. Dust Studio provided its fanbase with new models right until the end. Per the closure notice, its final resources were used to create and ship the company’s final wave of miniatures. “This allowed [us] to complete the Imperial Japanese Navy Bloc and flesh out the Mercenaries so they, too, coud be played on their own.”
The website currently still has download files available for Dust 1947 and other miniature options the studio had been offering. The studio also still has a selection of rulebooks and catalogs available for free on the site.
Though the notice didn’t provide any glimpse into the future, it ended on a hopeful note, stating the World of Dust “will stay alive as long as you will be playing, painting, dreaming about it.”