Hyenas is no longer coming: the Extraction shooter from Creative Assembly has been discontinued – for economic reasons.
With Hyenas Creative Assembly actually wanted to shake up the market of multiplayer shooters in 2023 – but nothing will come of it now: As publisher Sega announced via (press release) the development of the sci-fi shooter will now be discontinued shortly after the last beta.
Why was Hyenas discontinued? Sega gives economic reasons for the decision. Thus, the profitability in European countries had fallen, making cost-cutting measures necessary. In addition to Hyenas, other unspecified games are also said to have been put on hold.
What should Hyenas have been? In Hyenas, players should have raided spaceships in teams of three in a post-apocalyptic future and stolen valuable loot in the form of pop culture items. Battles against security systems (PvE) and rival pirates in zero gravity (PvP) were to make up the gameplay.
What is Creative Assembly doing instead? The developer’s next game will be Total War: Pharaoh which is scheduled for release on October 11. The studio has also confirmed it is working on an as-yet-unnamed action game and a third project.
Record losses at Sega
As (VGC reported), Sega expects to post a record loss for the current fiscal year ending March 2024 due to restructuring in Europe. (According to IGN) Sega “plans to reduce fixed costs at several of the group’s companies in the affected region, with Creative Assembly Ltd at the center,” according to a statement.
It’s unclear whether deeper cuts will be made at the studio. Creative Assembly is known for the Total War series (most recently with Warhammer 3) and 2014’s Alien Isolation, as well as 2017’s Halo Wars 2.
Hyenas joins a slew of shooters that tried to take on Fortnite, Warzone, or Hunt Showdown and didn’t survive the attempt – such as Hyperscape, Ghost Recon Frontline, Radical Heights, Rumbleverse, or Spellbreak.
