Rumor: Sony Cancels Final Strike Games' Unannounced Sci-Fi Shooter, Studio Lays Off 40% of Staff - News

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Sony has reportedly cancelled an unannounced science-fiction shooter that was in development at Final Strike Games, according to a source who spoke with Twitter user Timurr222.

The game was set to release for the PlayStation 5 and PC. The source also claims they were laid off from the studio, which has laid off 40 percent of its employees.

Final Strike Games Software Engineer Ahmed Khalifa in a LinkedIn post announced he was laid off today.

"Today marks an end of a journey for me at Final Strike," said Khalifa. "I got impacted by a recent round of layoffs and I’m looking to start a new journey. If you know of any opportunities for a mid -senior level software development opportunities please hit me up. I have good experience working with Unreal and Unity game engines."

Final Strike Games was founded in March 2016 and has studios in Bellevue, Washington, and Vancouver, Canada. The official website for the developer reveals the team released Rocket Arena in July 2020 and has supported the live service on Fortnite since June 2021. The website as of the time of writing says the developer is working on an unannounced AAA PvP shooter for PC and console.

The LinkedIn page for Final Strike Games currently lists 82 employees.

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.

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Signalstar (on 10 May 2023)

Games get canceled sometimes. It happens. I prefer when games get canceled before they are announced though. It stings less.

• +5

scrapking Signalstar (on 10 May 2023)

But with Starfield on the way, and the ABK acquisition still up in the air, this comes across as a particularly strange cancellation, if the rumours are true. This might be the kind of title Sony needs to keep investing in.

• +1

twintail scrapking (on 11 May 2023)

If agame isn't hitting it's milestones or quality checks, it doesn't matter how much you think Sony needs it. A bad game doesn't benefit then in the slightest.

• 0

scrapking twintail (on 11 May 2023)

Yes/no. That was the situation with Crimson Skies on Xbox. The game just wasn't any fun. But Microsoft kept investing in it, and it went on to release to acclaim and be a classic on the original Xbox (and is in Game Pass to this day).

• 0

Chazore (on 10 May 2023)

This oddly reminds me of the time when EA tried to make C&C generals 2, so they created a studio (Victory games) and merged them with another Bioware studio (not the ME Bioware) and called them Victory Bioware. They both worked on Generals 2 for some years before they ultimately canned both the game and the merged studios entirely.

• +2

LivncA_Dis3 (on 11 May 2023)

Cancelation is normal and like Signalstar said better to cancel an unannounced game lol

• +1

The Fury (on 10 May 2023)

Always interesting to know how things like this work. I presume it was a commission by Sony, I presume they would have paid for the work up until this point, right? Cancelling the project means the work didn't meet their expectations and they saw no future in it so best to cancel now before it becomes too expensive to cancel? But as long as the studio was paid and can still function, even if it means layoffs as the current project is no longer needed.

• +1

DonFerrari (on 10 May 2023)

That is sad for the people that got laid-off, the portion of the game being cancelled though could be just someone making a rumor based on the linkedin post.

• 0