11 Bit Studios, the development team behind the dystopian strategy game Frostpunk 2 has announced that they are cancelling Project 8, a game they had in development that was focused towards console gamers.
As part of the cancellation, an undisclosed number of developers at 11 Bit Studios are being laid off, though in a statement on the company’s investor relations website it does stipulate that those impacted will be receiving severance packages and support to find new jobs.
11 Bit Studios said that there were 37 developers who were working on Project 8 as of this year, with the project’s development having started with a smaller team back in 2018.
In the beginning of the announcement, Przemysław Marszał president of the management board of the studio said “Our vision for Project 8, which was intended to be our first title designed specifically for console gamers, was bold and exciting. However, it was conceived under very different market conditions, when narrative-driven, story-rich games held stronger appeal.”
To blame the cancellation and subsequent layoffs for a project six-years in the works, on a market shift conclusion that doesn’t exactly ring true when you consider last year’s biggest games both culturally for the industry and commercially were single-player, narrative-driven games – might strike as odd. (That’s Baldur’s Gate 3 and Hogwarts Legacy, respectfully, if you didn’t know).
However the next part of his statement reveals what’s more likely to be the real reason behind the project’s cancellation. It was concluded by this management board that finishing Project 8 would take longer than they originally budgeted, and cost more than the studio wanted to/could spend on it.
Unfortunately for 11 Bit and those impacted by this layoff, not all of the factors were in the studio’s control. Marszał cites the COVID-19 pandemic as a setback in the game’s development schedule. On top of that though, Project 8, according to Marszał, was stalled in key areas across multiple revisions.
It was then Project 8’s most recent management review that led to the cancellation decision. “Unfortunately, in our case, our findings revealed unresolved issues and challenges that would require further extensions of the production timeline and corresponding budget increases to address.”
“This, coupled with revised sales forecasts, largely reflecting the changing market environment, raised significant doubts about the project’s overall profitability,” said Marszał.
Later on in the studio’s statement, it confirms that this cancellation will “result in a reduction of staff involved in its [Project 8’s] development.” While there’s no actual number disclosed of how many developers were impacted, but further down the statement the studio says that “more than half of the current Project 8 team will be offered opportunities to transition to other existing teams or to new, as-yet-unannounced initiatives.”
So at least it doesn’t seem to be a whole wash of the people working on Project 8. Marszał concluded with an optimistic view of the studio’s future, as it prepares for its next major release, The Alters, which is currently set to arrive on PC sometime in early 2025, and it’s other, unannounced projects still in the oven.
Marszał even adds that “some of these initiatives, which are highly promising from a business perspective, will help fill the gap left by Project 8.” A comment that leads to speculation about what these projects could be, especially if, flawed though it might be, the board’s current thinking is that narrative-rich experiences won’t bring in the cash the studio needs.
The obvious guess is then something on the multiplayer side, and perhaps a live service title, which is usually the only kind of game that has the potential to fill in a studio’s financial gaps – but that doesn’t happen unless the game is a hit.
Source – [11 Bit Studios]