On Tuesday, we reported the unfortunate news that Eidos Montreal (Deus Ex and Tomb Raider) had been hit by a major round of layoffs, resulting in well over 100 people losing their jobs. At the time, we received no information beyond the typical corporate statement that they value all their employees and are now aiming to become more efficient.
However, Insider Gaming claims to have more information on the matter, and their sources say the reason for the layoffs is a spectacularly large cancellation. Apparently, the team had been working on a AAA project called Wildlands since 2019, which initially had a turbulent development process, including going through four different game engines with the creators having creative differences regarding the direction.
In recent years, however, development had been moving forward, and Wildlands "was almost complete" and had "a tentative release date planned for later this year." Embracer was reportedly the publisher but apparently changed its mind, and with that, a project that had cost "well beyond 9 figures" - that is, hundreds of millions of dollars - was scrapped.
For now, this should be taken with a grain of salt, but if the reports are accurate, content from the game is likely to leak online, so we might get to check out this shelved mega-project that we'll never get to play or see in its finished state. Very sad and it adds fuel to the fire for everyone who thinks the so-called AAA industry isn't exactly healthy at the moment.