It seemed like Outriders was actually quite a big success for developer People Can Fly, so much so that following its arrival, work quickly began on expanding the universe with DLC and also a sequel. However, the past few years have not been kind to the Polish developer, and it has been forced to layoff employees and cancel upcoming and in-production titles, with one of these reportedly being the Outriders follow-up.
As per Insider Gaming, who corroborates information shared by TheThumbWars, it's said that Outriders 2 was one of the recent cancellation casualties, as it was the project known as Gemini.
The report alleges that the game was still in its motion capture phase earlier this year and was not in any shape to be shared with the public. Still, games take a long while to make, so this isn't a massive surprise, but what is more confusing is why this now established IP ended up being shut down. There is reference to the disconnect between the developer and its Outriders publishing partner, Square Enix.
This somewhat lines up with the fact that the Polish developer laid off employees and canned Gemini last month, alongside a statement that read: "[People Can Fly has not been presented 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."
This decision also follows layoffs back in December, which saw over 100 employees losing their jobs.