After 6 years, Frostpunk 2 dev's unannounced game is canceled because it was conceived "under very different market conditions" when story-driven games "held stronger appeal"

gamesradar.com:

Frostpunk 2 developer 11 bit studios has canceled its unannounced game, codenamed Project 8, and laid of an unknown number of developers.

One can only imagine it's been a whirlwind of a time for the folks at 11 bit studios, as just last week the studio took home its first ever Game Awards trophy with Frostpunk 2 winning the award for Best Strategy Game at The Game Awards 2024.

In a statement, 11 bit studios president Przemysław Marszał attributed Project 8's cancelation to shifting market trends, saying "it was conceived under very different market conditions, when narrative-driven, story-rich games held stronger appeal."

The number of employees impacted by the cancelation is unknown, but GamesIndustry reports that 37 developers were working on the game as of September 2024. Marszał said "more than half" of the current team will be allowed to transition to the projects.

Marszał also said the Covid-19 pandemic destabilized Project 8's development and led to multiple delays. Finally, a "thorough" examination of the project's most recent milestone put the nail in the coffin as "findings revealed unresolved issues and challenges that would require further extensions of the production timeline and corresponding budget increases to address."

All of this, compounded by what management viewed as a difficult market for single-player, story-driven console games, made 11 bit studios pull the plug on the project altogether.

Marszał said the remaining dev team is continuing work on Frostpunk 2 and anticipating the launch of the upcoming sci-fi survival game The Alters.

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"We have a clear and well-defined roadmap for the future and have already taken concrete steps to move forward. Some of these initiatives, which are highly promising from a business perspective, will help fill the gap left by Project 8. We look forward to sharing more details soon,” Marszał said.

In a year of brutal layoffs and closures, Helldivers 2