Outriders and Gears of War: E-Day Developer Cancels Two Upcoming Games
In a surprising twist, one of the prominent Polish studios, People Can Fly (the studio behind the explosive shooter Outriders, as well as their recent high-profile work on Gears of War: E-Day) has edged two, not one, development projects from their lineup, surprising fans and raising questions surrounding what this means for the studio long term.
Today, People Can Fly officially announced that internally developed, codenamed titles Project Dagger and Project Bifrost, developed by People Can Fly, have been cancelled following a long internal review. Project Dagger and Project Bifrost were both considered part of the studio’s ambitious push to self-publish and create new IP.
“Following several months of evaluation and restructuring, it was not an easy decision to determine to halt the development for both Project Dagger and Project Bifrost,” stated Sebastian Wojciechowski, CEO of People Can Fly. “We appreciate the efforts and hard work from our talented teams, however, we must be sustainable and work on the most promising titles in our development pipeline.”
Originally anticipated as a high-octane, open-world shooter co-conceived with Take-Two Interactive, Project Dagger will never see the light of day. The title was quietly erased from the publisher’s lined-up projects last year. People Can Fly was looking forward to becoming a self-published and self-funded title, but rising production costs and production issues in production supposedly made it impossible to fully realize Project Dagger without receiving funding from a publisher.
Project Bifrost had further advanced pre-production, and was reportedly building on Unreal Engine 5. Similar to Project Dagger, it ran into problems finding a cohesive creative idea into which the team could sink their teeth. Folks familiar with the situation seem to indicate that there were disagreements amongst studio members on where to take the gameplay loop and storyline. After a final push by the studio’s finance board to trim the fat, the two projects were cancelled.
Even with canceled projects, People Can Fly has plenty keeping them busy. The team is now getting behind:
Gears of War: E-Day – a major Xbox-exclusive entry in the famous franchise, which they co-developed with the Coalition. The game promises to go back to its roots and the darkest, horror-inspired parts of the franchise. It is still on schedule for 2026.
Project Red – a new, secretive project that will reportedly be a third-person action RPG with a story twist. Insiders claim it is now receiving the resources from the canceled games.
Outriders Franchise Support – no sequel has been announced but support is still happening with little content drops and technical patches. The people who know the studio have said that a sequel is still on “ice” and that it was “not off the table.”
There is no doubt that cancellations are disappointing. But, they do demonstrate a more cautious and realistic tone from People Can Fly, a studio that achieved rapid expansion in the post-Outriders world. Gears of War: E-Day set to be a blockbuster, and Project Red potentially ushering in a new IP chapter for the studio, maybe this is the beginning of something more focused and cohesive creatively.
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