Embracer Group Holding has canceled the release of the Wildlands action game from Eidos Montreal, which the studio has been creating for almost 7 years. The massive cancellation of the project dragged down not only a huge budget, but also a new part of Deus Ex. As a result, there was a staff shortage, the dismissal of dozens of developers and the high—profile departure of the head of the department, David Anfossi. A rigorous cleanup – and, apparently, quite predictable.
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The Price of Ambition: 4 Engines, Insider Gaming’s Drain, and the Death of the new Deus Ex
If you believe the latest insiders from the Insider Gaming portal, the scale of the internal disaster is simply amazing. The Wildlands production hell started back in 2019. Just think about it — during this time, the action managed to change 4 different engines, and its production budget exceeded the astronomical nine-digit mark. The appetites of this 11th studio project turned out to be so exorbitant that for the sake of its survival, the management had to waste several other promising games.
The main victim is the new Deus Ex. The next part of the cult series was supposed to reach release back in January 2024, but it was killed in cold blood to finance a new IP. The most insulting thing in this story? Wildlands itself has already reached the final stage of bug polishing — a global release was planned before the end of this year. But the publisher just pulled the switch.
What are Wildlands: spirits, riding moose Redheart and WILD vibes
What have gamers lost in general? Spoiler is a very original gameplay concept. It was an expensive third-person action game about a teenager named River. The hero was a member of the Spiritbounds caste, a local group of tamers of mythical creatures who drove away evil spirits with the help of magical staffs. The journalists were even shown working materials.: A giant riding moose named Redheart lit up there, designed to move quickly through the open world. Conceptually, it all looked suspiciously like ideas from the long-dead WILD game from the Wild Sheet Studio team.
As a result, Embracer Group’s financial meat grinder left us at a broken trough. The last numbered Deus Ex was released back in 2016, and now cyberpunk fans definitely have nothing to catch. The studio is rapidly bleeding, the industry is learning another painful lesson, and attempts to save a troubled long-term construction predictably turned into a collapse.
