Frostpunk builders 11 bit studios have cancelled a brand new, console-oriented sport in response to each “shifting market tendencies” – particularly, declining participant enthusiasm for “narrative-driven, story-rich video games” – and particular issues throughout improvement. As a consequence, quite a few 11 bit workers are going to lose their jobs, although at the least half of the affected improvement crew are being supplied the possibility to maneuver to different initiatives, together with a number of unannounced ones.
As detailed in an investor launch this week, the cancelled sport was generally known as Project 8 internally, and had 37 crew members as of September 2024. For context, 11 bit studios presently have over 150 workers, in accordance with their recruitment website. It started improvement in early 2018, with complete improvement prices of about 48.4 million zloties – round 9.4 million kilos or 11.8 million {dollars} – by this September.
“Our imaginative and prescient for Project 8, which was meant to be our first title designed particularly for console players, was daring and thrilling,” 11 bit’s president of the administration board Przemysław Marszał observes within the launch. “However, it was conceived underneath very completely different market situations, when narrative-driven, story-rich video games held stronger enchantment.”
Gloominess concerning the layoffs apart, I’m predictably each intrigued and nervous that 11 bit assume there’s much less curiosity now in video games with a pronounced narrative part. Then once more, the explanations for the cancellation aren’t all macroeconomical. “With Project 8, we skilled each breakthroughs and setbacks,” Marszał went on. “During the COVID-19 pandemic, stabilising the event crew proved significantly troublesome, but progress continued.
“While we achieved noticeable high quality enhancements in sure areas, a number of essential elements of the sport and its improvement course of remained problematic regardless of a number of iterations,” he stated. “Over time, delays gathered, and with every milestone, the undertaking’s price range grew.”
During the unannounced sport’s final undertaking milestone overview, Marszał defined, “our findings revealed unresolved points and challenges that may require additional extensions of the manufacturing timeline and corresponding price range will increase to handle. This, coupled with revised gross sales forecasts, largely reflecting the altering market setting, raised vital doubts concerning the undertaking’s general profitability.”
It’s not but clear how many individuals will likely be laid off due to the cancellation, because it’ll be a “phased” discount. Marszał did specify that “greater than half” of the Project 8 crew will “be supplied alternatives to transition to different current groups or to new, as-yet-unannounced initiatives”.
I wasn’t conscious 11 bit have been engaged on a console-focussed sport. Their latest Frostpunk 2 enthused many reviewers, although our personal Sin Vega was fairly combined on it, and her conclusions chime with my misgivings on the preview stage.
I’m additionally not solely positive what to make of subsequent 12 months’s The Alters, a flowery sci-fi yarn during which you play a castaway who clones himself as a way to function a rolling house base, after which has to cope with his proportionately-multiplied psychological baggage. I feel it’s going to be memorable, no matter occurs. In-house initiatives apart, 11 bit have additionally revealed some great third-party creations, together with acerbic spiritual fable Indika and fantasy reshelving sim Moonlighter.
I’d have been to see Project 8, assuming it additionally shipped on PC. Best of luck to all people affected by the cancellation. Hopefully this will likely be 2024’s remaining layoff publish. It’s actually been a protracted 12 months, and never only for online game builders.
