Sega cancels extraction shooter Hyenas less than two weeks after its closed beta

Update: The Hyenas development team has now publicly responded to the game’s cancelation in a statement posted to Twitter. It thanked fans for their support, and apologized for the fact that it was never able to bring its “full vision” to players.

“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 every step along the way,” the statement reads. “We hope you’ll join us in remembering the action-packed, zero-G chaos and the diehard community of players who helped us 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,” it continues. “We are working hard to find new roles within the business for the incredible talent that helped put Hyenas together.”

Original story:

It’s been confirmed today (Thursday, September 28) that Sega is canceling Creative Assembly’s multiplayer extraction shooter, Hyenas. This comes less than two weeks after the game’s closed beta period wrapped up on PC.

As VGC reports, the news was revealed in a notice from holding company Sega Sammy, which stated that “some unannounced titles under development” have also been canceled. The decision was made as a result of “lower profitability of the European region”, it said.

“In response to the lower profitability of the European region, we have reviewed the title portfolio of each development base in Europe and the resulting action will be to cancel Hyenas and some unannounced titles under development,” the notice reads. “Accordingly, we will implement a write-down of work-in-progress for titles under development.”

Furthermore, Sega Sammy’s notice says that the company plans to “implement reduction of various fixed expenses at several group companies in relevant region, centered on the Creative Assembly Ltd.”, with the expectation to “incur one-time expenses related to reduction of fixed expenses”. It now anticipates recording a loss for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024.

While for obvious reasons it’s not known what unannounced games have been affected by this decision, it’s surprising to see Hyenas canceled so soon after its limited beta and its playable demo at Gamescom 2023 in August.

In his preview of Hyenas, TRG’s editor-in-chief, Jake Tucker, praised the “pleasingly chaotic” shootouts present in the space-based FPS, although he noted that they felt like they went on a bit too long. He also spoke about the title’s “fantastic” identity and its unique hero characters, and stated that it “should get a lot of fans if the game manages to find its audience”. 

Hyenas didn’t have a specific release date, so it’s not known exactly how far away it was from launching.

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