People Can Fly has cancelled two projects and “scaled down” its teams.
In a statement posted to LinkedIn this afternoon, CEO Sebastian Wojciechowski said it had been a “difficult decision” but attributed the suspension of Project Gemini and Bifrost to the publisher “not present[ing] us with a draft of the subsequent content rider to the Publishing Agreement”, and the Group’s cash flow, “which showed a lack of prospects”, respectively.
“Today we made a very difficult decision to suspend the development of project Gemini and project Bifrost – the relevant current reports have been released to the market,” Wojciechowski wrote.
“The suspension of the Gemini project is a consequence of the fact that the Publisher has not presented us with a draft of the subsequent content rider to the Publishing Agreement covering the terms and conditions of further milestone on project Gemini and the lack of communication from the Publisher as to its willingness to continue or terminate the Gemini project.
“Project Bifrost was suspended due to the above and the analysis of the Group’s cash flow, which showed a lack of prospects for securing organisational resources and funds necessary to continue the production and release of this project.
“As a result, we have to significantly regroup as a studio and scale down our teams, which hurts the most,” Wojciechowski added. “We wish to express our deepest regret and sadness over how these events have unfolded and our sincere gratitude for everyone’s contribution up to this point.”
Wojciechowski did not specify which publisher he thought had failed to “communicate”, but the studio has worked with several publishing partners, most recently Square Enix, Krafton, and Sony. It’s also working on Gears of War: E-Day.
In December, People Can Fly the Outriders developer announced its second round of layoffs in less than a year, this time affecting “more than 120” people. The move accompanies the cancellation or downsizing of several projects, with the studio blaming “external market pressures”.