Electronic Arts has made the decision to cancel one of its more high-profile recently revealed games. Following only committing to the project a couple of years ago when it was announced in July 2023, the Black Panther action-adventure that was being made by developer Cliffhanger Games has been axed, with EA going a step further and also shutting down the developer too.
This has been confirmed in a report from IGN, which utilises an email sent to staff from EA's president Laura Miele, where it's mentioned that the cancellation and layoffs are happening to "sharpen our focus and put our creative energy behind the most significant growth opportunities."
With the studio being shut down, staff members are as expected being laid off and while the exact number of affected developers hasn't been mentioned, it is thought to be a lower number than the recent wave of layoffs that affected Respawn.
Miele also adds: "These decisions are hard. They affect people we've worked with, learned from, and shared real moments with. We're doing everything we can to support them — including finding opportunities within EA, where we've had success helping people land in new roles."
This does put a question mark on Motive's Iron Man game, as back in 2023 a rumour started swirling that Marvel was making a big push into games and that EA's Iron Man and Black Panther titles were key parts of that initiative. For the time being, the Iron Man game remains in production, despite the fact that we haven't seen anything of substance in relation to it for a long while.