Outriders Dev Blames Square Enix Over Cancellation

People Can Fly, the acclaimed Polish studio behind Outriders and Gears of War: Judgment, faces further workforce reductions following the cancellation of two major projects: codenamed Gemini and Bifrost. "Today we've made the extremely difficult decision to halt development on Project Gemini and Project Bifrost," CEO Sebastian Wojciechowski stated in an official announcement. "The relevant disclosures have been filed with the market." "Gemini's suspension results from our publisher failing to provide an updated agreement covering subsequent milestones, coupled with their lack of communication regarding continued support," Wojciechowski explained. "Bifrost's cancellation stems from these circumstances and our financial analysis, which revealed insufficient resources to complete development." The CEO continued: "This painful situation forces us to restructure the studio and reduce our teams. We profoundly regret this outcome and sincerely thank everyone for their contributions." While Wojciechowski didn't name specific publishing partners, studio documentation confirms Square Enix was involved with Gemini, while Bifrost was an internal project. Square Enix has not publicly addressed the matter. This marks the second major downsizing for People Can Fly after terminating 120 employees late last year. The studio continues other partnerships, including Project Echo with Krafton, Project Delta with Sony, and Gears of War: E-Day with Microsoft. The developer's latest release remains Bulletstorm VR, an enhanced virtual reality adaptation of the cult classic shooter for Meta Quest and PSVR 2 platforms.