IO Interactive: “Nothing Is Confirmed” On Project Fantasy’s Platforms Or Exclusivity

gameranx.com:

In a new interview with GameReactor, I/O Interactive Senior Technical Executive Producer Cris Vega and Core Engine Programmer Álvaro Fernández shared very few details about the status of Project Fantasy.

Word about Project Fantasy actually first came from I/O Interactive’s CEO himself, Hakan Abrak. In a financial meeting all the way back in 2021, he alluded to a ‘third universe’ that the company was making, that was “something our core people, our veteran staff, have been dreaming about for some time.”

And then we reported on the rumor that this game was a multiplayer fantasy RPG, being developed alongside Xbox Game Studios. Note that at this time, the rumor speculated, but did not actually claim, that the game would be an Xbox exclusive.

In April 2023, I/O had new job openings looking strictly for developers with experience in multiplayer games, adding to evidence that it could be a multiplayer title. Finally, most recently, I/O listed new job openings, naming the game’s seeming inspiration, a gamebook series called Fighting Fantasy.

But then, I/O got the rug pulled from under them, when unredacted documents shared in Microsoft – Activision regulation unwittingly confirmed that Microsoft did have a project with the studio, under their codename Project Dragon.

 Assuming Project Dragon and Project Fantasy are one and the same game, we know from the document that this game is actually an RPG shooter, planned for Xbox Series X|S, and confirmed as Xbox exclusive.

Here’s what Álvaro Fernández had to say about Project Fantasy:

 “Not much, actually, because this is not our domain. This is also [something where] there’s nothing clear for us, so I don’t think any word came out about any specifics about this, so we cannot comment