Outriders 2 was one of the two titles from People Can Fly that were in development before meeting an unfortunate cancellation. The first Outriders met with a good amount of positive reception from critics and audience, and the recent news showed the studio was working on the sequel, along with a new live-service IP, Project Gemini.
An insider source told the ThumbWars that the team became aware of the studio’s circumstances at the same time as the rest of the world. An anonymous source told the website about one of the two cancelled titles being a nearly complete Outriders 2 and the other being referred to as Project Gemini.
People Can Fly had announced the cancellation news online via LinkedIn. While the cancellation news didn’t reveal any of the games in the works, we now know the names of the titles.
The sequel was inevitable when people played the first Outriders. There was plenty of room for improvement, and people were hoping to see the fixes in the sequel. The game had over 3 million players in its first month. People had reasons to be hopeful about the sequel to Outriders. The enthusiasm for the first game was also shared by Square Enix, as they referred to the title as “poised to be the company’s next big franchise.”
The other game that was on the chopping block was Project Bitfrost or Gemini. It was a brand-new IP without any affiliations with the previous titles, but the product didn’t create enough enthusiasm inside the studio. Project Bifrost was conceived as a “generic, trend-chasing product lacking in originality and creativity.”
The industry has been taking a strong stance on games that work and those that don’t. Live service games seem to be the genre that is taking the most hits compared to the rest. Studios making this kind of game have been part of the many layoffs we now see daily.
