LogIn"Unsatisfactory results of the evaluation of the scope and commercial potential of the Project" are to be blamed.
Image Credit: People Can Fly
People Can Fly, the studio known for Bulletstorm and Outriders, has canceled its AAA co-op action-adventure project, Project Dagger, citing an "unsatisfactory" assessment of its commercial potential.
The news first surfaced on Twitter, where MauroNL, a Video Game Industry Analyst according to their Twitter bio, shared the studio's official announcement regarding the discontinuation of Project Dagger. The announcement reveals that the studio's projected end-of-year financial results could experience a decrease of approximately $16.9 million due to this decision.
Project Dagger was initially slated for release through Grand Theft Auto and Borderlands publisher, Take-Two Interactive, but the partnership was terminated in 2022. The studio then chose to continue with the project as a self-published title, citing faith in the game's potential.
In February 2023, People Can Fly announced that it had four AAA titles in pre-production, and three of them, namely Project Dagger, Project Bifrost, and Project Victoria are in the self-publishing model, with a planned release window of 2025 to 2026.
In January of this year, the studio announced it was laying off over 30 employees from the game codenamed Project Gemini, due to budget constraints. With the cancellation of Project Dagger, news regarding the situation of the project's employees has not yet appeared.
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