People Can Fly, the Polish studio known for titles such as Bulletstorm, Gears of War: Judgment, and Outriders, has made the decision to cancel two of its unannounced projects and downsize its teams. The studio has cited disagreements with their publisher and a lack of funding as key factors leading to this outcome. This follows a significant reduction in staff last year, when over 150 employees were laid off in two rounds of cuts.
Announcement of Project Cancellations
In a LinkedIn post on Sunday, CEO Sebastian Wojciechowski announced the cancelation of two projects, known as project Gemini and project Bifrost, details of which had not previously been disclosed.
“Today, we made a very difficult decision to suspend the development of project Gemini and project Bifrost – the relevant current reports have been released to the market,” he explained in the statement.
Wojciechowski noted that the decision to suspend project Gemini stemmed from the publisher’s failure to provide a draft for a subsequent content rider associated with the Publishing Agreement, which governs further milestones for the project. Additionally, he mentioned a lack of communication from the publisher regarding plans for the project’s continuation or termination.
Regarding project Bifrost, he indicated that the cancellation was due to similar concerns coupled with an analysis of the company’s cash flow, which revealed insufficient resources and funding required for the project’s ongoing development and eventual release.
The CEO also indicated that the cancellations would likely lead to a restructuring within the studio and further layoffs, although specifics regarding the number of employees affected were not disclosed.
“We are compelled to regroup significantly as a studio and scale down our teams, which is particularly painful,” Wojciechowski stated. “We want to express our deepest regret over these developments and our sincere gratitude for the contributions of our team thus far.”
Although the statement did not name the publisher involved, People Can Fly has most recently collaborated with Square Enix on Outriders. The studio continues to work on various projects, including Gears of War: E-Day for Xbox Game Studios and a new title based on a Sony IP, codenamed project Delta.
Ongoing Challenges in the Gaming Industry
Last year marked a challenging period for People Can Fly, as the studio laid off over 150 employees in two separate retrenchments. In January 2024, reports indicated that more than 30 jobs were cut, followed by an announcement in December that over 120 workers would be let go alongside the suspension of another project.
This latest round of job reductions is part of a broader trend within the video game industry, which has seen numerous cancellations, studio closures, and staff layoffs. Recently, Electronic Arts cancelled its anticipated Black Panther game and laid off an unspecified number of employees across various teams, making it the third wave of job cuts for the company in the current year.
In February, Warner Bros. announced the closure of three of its game studios, including Monolith Productions, and cancelled a Wonder Woman game that had been in development for several years.