Ninja Theory's Project Mara Cancelled, Entire Studio Focused on Senua - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 08 June 2026 / 1,297 Views
Developer Ninja Theory over the weekend announced third entry in the Hellblade series simply titled Senua.
Studio head Dom Matthews speaking on Xbox Wire revealed the entire team is working on Senua and its experimental horror game, Project Mara, has been cancelled.
" The way I think about it is really about studio potential, looking at our expertise and allowing the team to go and do their best work in this game – and so much of that experience comes from the likes of DmC, Enslaved, and Heavenly Sword as well as the Hellblades," said Matthews.
"We had smaller teams working on the last two Hellblade games – Hellblade I in particular was a team of about 25 people. So this is about taking those 85 people that we have now, which is still a comparatively small team, and building out that experience. We can do more with combat, more with traversal, more with puzzles, and blend all of that gameplay into one. We have that opportunity with all of the talent now available to do so.
"And with the fact that we have the entire team working on this game, I suspect some people might ask what’s happened to Project Mara [a previously announced horror title] – I took the decision to not work on that any further. These decisions are never easy, but I did so to take the opportunity to have all of the talent and expertise in the studio, all 85 creatives, working together to realize the potential of what Senua can be."
Senua will launch for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Xbox Game Pass in 2027.
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 follow the author on Bluesky.
