GTA publisher cuts ties with Outriders developer's next game

Outriders developer People Can Fly says that its publishing agreement with Take-Two Interactive is set to be terminated two years into the development of its new game.

In a statement issued earlier today, the developer said that it "has received from Take-Two Interactive a letter of intent to terminate the development and publishing agreement by means of mutual understanding."

The agreement was attached to a new IP, known as Project Dagger, which the studio described as an action-adventure title. CEO Sebastian Wojciechowski said that People Can Fly "strongly believe in the Project Dagger's potential and are now committed to continue its development within our self-publishing pipeline." 

We don't know much about the game, but Wojciechowski says that it's "still in pre-production," and that the team is "now focusing on closing combat and game loops," as well as migrating to Unreal Engine 5. It's not clear why Take-Two has decided to end the publishing agreement, but Wojciechowski also states that he assumes the two companies will part "on good terms," and that "I don't see reasons why we couldn't work with Take-Two on some other project in the future."

While likely a blow, the termination of the publication agreement is presented as an unfortunate hindrance for the studio rather than a total disaster. People Can Fly is currently working on six other games, some of which are already set to be self-published, and others which are coming in partnership with another major publisher, Square Enix. Square and PCF worked together on the studio's latest breakout hit, Outriders.

Helped along by a good Xbox Game Pass reception and a relatively quiet release window, Outriders was one of the bigger games of early 2021, and while it's not maintained its strong launch numbers, it's still bringing in five-figure player counts on Steam in good months. That relative success - in spite of suggestions the game may not have broken even - makes Take-Two's decision to cut ties with PCF even more confusing, but it seems likely that Project Dagger will find some sort of new home.

Keep an eye on the horizon with our list of new games 2022.