The game industry appears to be suffering these last couple of months. Aside from video game companies laying off staff, some projects are also experiencing delays. In Sega's case, the entertainment company had its priciest game thrown out.
Canceled After Beta Release
Sega is developing a game titled Hyenas which is apparently a project that the company poured a lot of resources on. However, it wasn't even a month after the release of its latest beta when the title was officially dead in the water.
The amount that was spent for the game was not disclosed by the company, but it was reportedly more expensive than the adventure game Shenmue, which cost Sega $70 million to develop, as reported by Kotaku.
Hyenas was being developed by Creative Assembly, who was also behind the game Total War. The game was said to be a "sci-fi space piracy multiplayer FPS" which was inspired by popular FPS titles like Destiny and PUBG, as said by the studio.
Like most multiplayer first-person shooters, it was meant to be a team versus team effort where they would sometimes fight with NPCs as well. There's a part of the game where the players will try to acquire items and pieces in reference to pop culture.
The developers revealed that there were several factors that eventually led to the game being canceled, including a "total lack of direction" where the leader was "asleep at the wheel," as reports say. The engine used as they were developing it also changed, making it harder to work on it.
There were already signs that the game was not headed in the direction it was supposed to go as it went from being a paid game to becoming free-to-play. When the beta tests further confirmed that the game was not doing well, the company eventually decided to cancel it in September.
The Video Game Industry's Rough Patch
Things are not all that great in the gaming industry right now. Aside from delayed and canceled titles, a lot of developers are also getting the boot. Many well-known companies have conducted layoffs that have affected dozens if not hundreds of its employees.
The latest one to implement job cuts is Naughty Dog, which is known for its Uncharted and The Last of Us franchises. According to The Verge, the company will be laying off at least 25 employees, all of which are contracted.
The estimated number of impacted employees will make up at least 6% of Naughty Dog's total workforce of 400. It was even reported that the contracted employees who were about to get fired had to keep working until their contract was finished, and would not be getting severance.
Epic Games is also conducting layoffs but on a much larger scale. According to Tech Crunch, the creator of Fortnite would be terminating about 16% of its workforce, which is equivalent to 870 employees. CEO Tim Sweeney said that it was due to spending more money than they were earning.
