Earlier this month, as spotted by Twitter user MauroNL, Polish developer People Can Fly decided to cancel the new action/adventure IP codenamed Project Dagger.
The game was originally slated to be published by Take-Two. However, Take-Two decided to drop Project Dagger nearly two years ago, leaving People Can Fly to pursue the development on its own.
For a while, it did so. Now, the studio decided against continuing to work on it after negatively evaluating its potential.
The discontinuation of work on the Project is the result of re-analysis of the development plans for projects implemented by the capital group of PCF Group S.A. (the “Group”) and introducing changes to these plans in connection with the unsatisfactory results of the evaluation of the scope and commercial potential of the Project after redefining the direction of the game’s development.
The cancellation of Project Dagger will result in write-offs, with an estimated reduction of $18.50 million in the standalone 2023 financial result and $15.81 million in the consolidated 2023 financial result. However, as part of the termination agreement signed in 2022 with Take-Two, People Can Fly would have had to pay $20 million to Take-Two if the game was ever released. With its cancellation, this will no longer be necessary.
People Can Fly, whose latest released games are Outriders and Bulletstorm VR, is still working on five projects. Project Gemini is being developed for Square Enix and suffered layoffs to the tune of 30 employees earlier this year due to reduced scope. Project Maverick is being developed for Microsoft with an estimated budget of $30-50 million and may well be based on the Gears franchise, which the studio already knows intimately, having developed 2013's Gears of War: Judgment. Project Victoria, Project Bifrost, and Project Red are probably going to be self-published as part of the new strategy of making AA games alongside AAA.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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