Myst was a massive success: Not only was it the best-selling PC videogame of all time for years, it helped usher in the CD-ROM era, opening the door to expansive new technologies and previously unseen levels of fidelity in gaming. In 1993, Myst was nothing short of a revelation.
The fortunes of Myst, and developer Cyan Worlds, have waned since then. The most recent game in the series, Myst 5: End of Ages, came out in 2005 and was reasonably well received but not a big seller; Cyan, after years of financial struggles, has moved onto Myst-like games including Firmament and Obduction, both of them reliant on crowdfunding.
The studio laid off “roughly half” its staff in 2025, leading PC Gamer’s Justin Wagner to write that “it’s galling to see a historic indie like Cyan Worlds hit so hard” by the brutal, ongoing contraction of the game industry. Justin sure wasn’t wrong about that, but some folks are finding this even more galling: Over the weekend Cyan released a teaser for a new Myst game, codenamed Project Anglerfish, which looks really good—and then said it’s not in development because apparently publishers aren’t interested.
Cyan said it spent about four months developing a prototype for the game in 2025, which was “purpose-built for publisher-eyes only,” as was the teaser video. “For a variety of reasons, this project couldn’t move forward at the time, BUT we’re still proud of the work the team did—so we’re sharing the teaser for the prototype with you all now.”