It was in June last year that Sega and Creative Assembly announced Hyenas, a brand-new multiplayer project described as a hero-based, extraction shooter experience set in unique zero-G environments. The title has been in heavy testing via public betas for a while now, but in a sudden announcement, Sega has revealed it has canceled the project.
Speaking to investors, Sega CEO and president Haruki Satomi said the upcoming hero shooter as well as "unannounced titles under development" have been canceled due to "lower profitability of the European region."
It"s unclear what are these "unannounced titles" that also received the axe today, and from which studios. Sega-owned western studios currently include RTS games developer Relic Entertainment (which already suffered a major layoff wave recently), Football Manager studio Sports Interactive, Endless series developer Amplitude, and business sim maker Two Point Studios.
Rovio, the company behind Angry Birds, was also acquired by Sega just a few months ago for €706 million.
"Accordingly, we will implement a write-down of work-in-progress for titles under development," Satomi adds regarding the move. "We will continue to consider measures to improve profitability in European bases apart from above. We will announce the specific details and impact from them as soon as we make decision"
Developer Creative Assembly is also being focused on to improve profitability, with "reduction of various fixed expenses" being announced for the British studio. This could mean staff layoffs are also planned, though nothing has been confirmed yet.
Creative Assembly is well known for its Total War franchise of strategy games as well as the hit horror entry Alien: Isolation. It"s announcement of a multiplayer hero shooter came as a surprise to many. Though with the project now being canceled, most fans will probably never get to see how it would have ended up in its final state. Creative Assembly currently has Total War: Pharaoh incoming as its next major release, which launches on October 11.