In a shocking twist, SEGA has revealed that it has halted development on its upcoming zero-G extraction shooter, HYENAS, which was in development by Creative Assembly. What’s weird about this is I literally just played this game as a beta test, and people were responsive to the game. However, it would seem that SEGA doesn’t think this game would make the sort of impact that it was looking for and has decided to pull the plug.
This is what SEGA had to say about why HYENAS development was halted.
Hi everyone,
We are sorry to announce the end of HYENAS’ development before we were ever able to bring our full vision to you. While the decision to cancel the project has not been made lightly, we know that doesn’t make it any easier to accept – for you or for us.
We knew our plans were ambitious and we knew we were diving headfirst into competition with some of the greats. But we believed in the journey and we’re proud to have taken the step along the way. We hope you’ll join us in remembering the action-packed, zero-G chaos and the diehard community of players that helped make it special.
So many people poured their hearts into this project for many years. Please be kind and considerate to them as the news sinks in. We are working hard to find new roles within the business for the incredible talent that helped put HYENAS together.
Thank you for your support
Sadly, this doesn’t make much sense to me. To form a team and put so much work and money into a project, only to kill it later due to not looking at the scene, is, well, lazy. I certainly wouldn’t try to go up against the juggernauts in a certain gaming space unless I was fully ready to do battle with them. Here, it just reads that SEGA gave up, and that hurts on so many levels.
Not to mention that SEGA has been promoting this game heavily. It made the rounds at Gamescom 2023, and it was nearing its release date after several alphas and a beta, which again impressed. It’s like quitting a race when you’re right at the finish line.
You hate to see this happen, yet, I understand even if I don’t agree with it. I felt that HYENAS was going down the right path, and I had fun playing with the beta. Sure, it might have been a bit too ambitious, but hell, so was Fortnite, and look where that game is.
I’m beginning to think that there’s more here than SEGA is admitting, but regardless, it is what it is. I’m happy… no, honored to have played what HYENAS was about, and I just wished the game had lived to see its full potential. On the same side of the coin, I do hope that everyone who worked this title continues to stay employed by SEGA in some sort of capacity.
HYENAS was in development for the PC, with no word on it coming to any other platform. Now, it’s never coming to any platform… and that’s sad.