Sega is next up in a long line of studios making major budget cuts. Its child company, Creative Assembly, was set to build and release a highly anticipated FPS early next year.
However, poor financial performance has put the company at odds with its original budget for this game. Many Creative Assembly employees fear that layoffs are soon to follow.
Barely a month after the game’s release of an official demo at Gamescom, and after the closing of its initial Beta, Sega announced the cancellation. (Source: EuroGamer)
On the game’s official YouTube channel, Hyenas was described as a “hero-based, multiplayer extraction shooter” where players can “create chaos, fly in zero-G, and most importantly: GET. THE. MERCH”.
Blaming poor monetary performance in Europe, Sega has had to cut some financial ties, including the cancellation of its most expensive game yet, Hyenas, along with some other unannounced titles.
While players built up plenty of excitement over this boundary-breaking shooter, Beta testers gave the game some surprisingly negative feedback. Anonymous developers from Sega and Creative Assembly made claims that there was a complete lack of direction when it came to the game’s future.
With higher-ups purportedly snoozing on the job, devs became increasingly frustrated with the lack of resources and support available to them. The team seemed to back down on its original promise to provide some of the most adventurous and creative gameplay mechanics the genre has ever seen. Not to mention, many had already lost hope that Hyenas would be lost in a sea of FPS games already on the market today.
Many gamers were invested in the game, but its bright future was dimmed after Sega announced some big restructuring plans. (Source: Twitter)
On the official SegaSammy website, the CEO and executives made a huge announcement to the public, making their plans for structural reform known. The company will make its most notable changes in Europe, where it claims the games industry is changing so fast that consistent restructuring must be done.
In order to keep up with the expected “record losses of approximately 14.3 billion yen for the fiscal year”, Sega will release many of its IPs, either cancelling them or selling them off completely.
Hyenas was expected to be a creative loot shooter with plenty of easter eggs and direct homages to popular Sega IPs, including Sonic the Hedgehog. (Source: YouTube)
Ultimately, excitement for Hyenas began to die down after the company delivered some less-than-impressive gameplay demo footage at Gamescom. With players more interested in more unique game genres, it is likely that Sega will completely shift its plans for the development of future IPs.
While Hyenas is a great financial and conceptual loss, gamers are even more concerned about what these cutbacks mean for the future of the video game industry.
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