People Can Fly cancels 2 games including Square Enix project
The Gears of War and Outriders studio looks set to make layoffs
People Can Fly has cancelled two unannounced games and signalled there will be layoffs at the studio as a result of publisher disagreements.
Project Gemini, an unannounced game which was set to be published by Square Enix, along with a separate unannounced VR game referred to as Project Bifrost, have both been cancelled.
People Can Fly reportedly laid off over 30 developers working on the unannounced Square Enix game last January.
“The suspension of the Gemini project is a consequence of the fact that the Publisher has not presented us with a draft of the subsequent content rider to the Publishing Agreement covering the terms and conditions of further milestones on Project Gemini and the lack of communication from the Publisher as to its willingness to continue or terminate the Gemini project,” said CEO Sebastian Wojciechowski.
“Project Bifrost was suspended due to the above and the analysis of the Group’s cash flow, which showed a lack of prospects for securing organizational resources and funds necessary to continue the production and release of this project.
“As a result, we have to significantly regroup as a studio and scale down our teams, which hurts the most.
“We wish to express our deepest regret and sadness over how these events have unfolded and our sincere gratitude for everyone’s contribution up to this point.”
People Can Fly, which celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2022 and was owned by Epic Games from 2012-2015, is the developer behind Painkiller, Bulletstorm, Gears of War: Judgment, and Square Enix’s Outriders.
The studio is working on multiple projects including this year’s Xbox title Gears of War: E-Day, and an unannounced game using PlayStation IP.
In April, People Can Fly announced that it had cancelled a co-op action RPG codenamed Project Dagger after several years of development. The company had been planning to self-publish Project Dagger after it was dropped by original publisher Take-Two Interactive in 2022.
