People Can Fly, the Polish game developer behind games such as Bulletstorm, Gears of War: Judgment and Outriders, has canceled two unannounced projects and said it will reduce the size of its team. The studio cited disagreements with the publisher and insufficient funds to continue production as reasons for the decision. Last year, People Can Fly laid off more than 150 employees in two rounds of layoffs.
People Can Fly cancels 2 games
People Can Fly CEO Sebastian Wojciechowski confirmed in a statement shared on LinkedIn on Sunday that the studio will be canceling two games – Project Gemini and Project Bifrost. The company has not previously disclosed details about the two games in development.
Wojciechowski said in a statement: “Today we have made a very difficult decision to suspend the development of the Gemini project and the Bifrost project – the latest relevant reports have been released to the market.”
“The reason for the suspension of the Gemini Project is that the publisher has not provided us with a follow-up draft of additional terms and conditions covering further milestones of the Gemini Project, as well as a lack of communication from the publisher regarding its willingness to continue or terminate the Gemini Project.
“The Bifrost project is suspended due to the reasons stated above and an analysis of the group’s cash flows, which demonstrates the lack of prospects for obtaining the organizational resources and funding required to continue production and launch of the project.”
The executive also said the cancellation would result in restructuring and layoffs, but did not specify how many employees might be affected.
“As a result, we had to significantly restructure the studio and reduce the size of the team, which hurt us the most,” Wojciechowski said. “We express our deepest regret and sadness that these events occurred and express our sincere gratitude to everyone for their contribution to date.”
Wojciechowski didn’t specify the unnamed publisher in his statement, but People Can Fly last worked with Square Enix on Outriders. The studio is currently developing several projects, including Xbox Game Studios’ Gears of War: E-Day and a new game based on Sony IP code-named Delta.
Game industry layoffs
Last year, People Can Fly laid off more than 150 employees in two rounds of layoffs. In January 2024, the studio reportedly laid off more than 30 employees. Later in December, Wojciechowski announced that the company was suspending production on one of its projects and laying off more than 120 workers.
The latest round of layoffs at the studio comes after a wave of game cancellations, studio closures and layoffs across the video game industry. Last week, Electronic Arts canceled the Black Panther game and laid off an unknown number of employees across various teams, marking the company’s third round of layoffs this year.
In February, Warner Bros. shut down three game studios, including Monolith Productions, and canceled the Wonder Woman game it had spent years in development on.
