Sega has cancelled Hyenas, the multiplayer extraction shooter in development at UK studio Creative Assembly.
Issuing a warning to investors that it will record a loss for the financial year, Sega said "profitability has been lowered mainly in European bases". As a result, it has implemented "structural reforms aimed at increasing efficiency", and reviewed in-development games. "We have made the difficult decision to cancel some titles under the development as well as to reduce the fixed expenses," Sega said.
"In response to the lower profitability of the European region, we have reviewed the title portfolio of each development base in Europe and the resulting action will be to cancel Hyenas and some unannounced titles under development," Sega continued. "Accordingly, we will implement a write-down of work-in-progress for titles under development."
A source close to Creative Assembly told IGN the entire Hyenas studio now faces redundancy, but staff expect massive cuts across the company. Staff were told the news this morning, September 28, at the same time Sega issued its statement. The cancellation of Hyenas so close to release came as a surprise to staff, IGN was told, although internally there was concern that the game would fail to do well.
"We will implement reduction of various fixed expenses at several group companies in relevant region, centered on the Creative Assembly Ltd," Sega said. "We expect to incur one-time expenses related to reduction of fixed expenses.
"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."
Creative Assembly, best known for the Total War series, recently brought Hyenas to German show gamescom for the public to play. A beta concluded mid-September.
Last month Sega admitted Hyenas was a “challenging” title. “We are unable to talk about this title because the details have not yet been announced at this time,” Sega said at the time. “As this is a challenging title, we are striving to improve its quality towards the release on the front line of development. We are also making final adjustments to its business model in parallel.”
Hyenas, announced last summer, resurfaced on August 16 with a new gameplay trailer showing chaotic, zero-G heist action. Hyenas was described as a hero-based multiplayer extraction shooter that pit five teams of three against each other and NPC security teams known as MURFS. The idea was to steal pop culture memorabilia from Plunderships.
While Creative Assembly had previously indicated Hyenas was not free-to-play, Sega’s mention of “final adjustments” to the business model suggested this might have changed. Sega issued IGN the following statement last month:
"We have dedicated the past year to reviewing our business model alongside months of extremely valuable player testing of the gameplay experience. We're very excited with this progress and the reaction to yesterday's gameplay reveal. We'll build on foundation with our Closed Beta test beginning 31 August and use this insight to finalize our plans for launch."
— HYENAS (@PlayHyenas) September 28, 2023
In a statement issued to IGN, Creative Assembly confirmed a redundancy consultation had begun and job losses may follow.
"Creative Assembly, part of Sega Europe, has announced the beginning of a redundancy consultation process, alongside ending development of Hyenas. This decision affects areas of its UK operations, which may result in job losses.
"We understand that this has a significant impact on our people, whether they are directly at-risk of redundancy or not. Our people-first approach remains foundational to how we operate; the priority is to work with those whose jobs are at-risk and re-allocate them to other available opportunities at CA wherever possible.
"We are absolutely committed to delivering more exciting game experiences long into the future, which will delight both current and potential players all over the world."
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
