Summary
FollowingSega’s cancellation of several titles, it has been reported that one of them,Hyenas, had the largest budget ever invested by the company in a video game. The cancellation of this title surprised the industry as it was very close to its release date and raised many questions regarding the decision made bySega.
On September 28,Sega announced the cancellation of multiple games. While many of these titles were unannounced,Hyenaswas among them, a highly anticipated multiplayer shooter developed by Creative Assembly, the studio behindAlien: Isolation. Sega attributed this unfortunate news to financial problems the company was facing in its European operations. What surprised many was that the game was canceled when it was on the verge of its release date. However, the recent report about its alleged budget appears to intensify the surprise.
Reportedly, a former developer interviewed by VGC stated thatHyenashad the “company’s biggest budget" ever allocated to a game. Speculations about the reasons for the cancellation began to emerge. Nevertheless, a YouTube channel named Volound recently released a video that delved into the reasons behind the cancellation. The video featured anonymous developers shedding light on a multitude of issues surrounding the development, including what they described as a “total lack of direction.”
Making games is an expensive endeavor, and although the exact amount Sega invested in this title is not known, according to the VGC source, it is known to have cost more thanShenmue, a 1999 title that cost the company around $70 million. Another crucial factor that may have influenced Sega’s decision was a perceived lack of interest and feedback within the company and concerns thatHyenaswould be overshadowed by the multitude of multiplayer shooters already on the market. This was compounded by other issues such as essential character changes affecting the game’s tone, problems with project leadership, and the sudden shift from a premium game to a free-to-play game with microtransactions.
Undoubtedly, this has affected the developers in charge of the game, and a significant concern for the workers is how this will impact those jobs that have become redundant. There exists the possibility that the company may have to face layoffs, as has been recently seenwith BioWare eliminating jobs. According to one of the interviewed developers, the primary concern is not the cancellation ofHyenasitself but rather how this decision impacts the jobs of individuals who had no connection to the project. “Like IT, operations, marketing, HR, even some people over on TW, they bear no responsibility for this binfire,” they stated.
Many issues between developers and companies, including financial challenges, and how they impact numerous titles have been observed before. The cancellation of games is always disappointing news for both players and employees, underscoring the significant challenges that come with game development.
