It’s been a rough year for layoffs in the industry, and no company has hit the headlines for destroying studios as much as Embracer. Following the aftermath of a result of a $2 billion deal falling throughin 2023, just this year we’ve heard that new Timesplitters and Deus EX games were killed off during the company’s restructure, and now a report suggests the company also killed off a new Red Faction game.Embracer reportedly shot down a Red Faction sequelDuring the company’s round of mass acquisitions before this period of devastation, Embracer acquired a wealth of talent from across the industry, including TimeSplitters developer Free Radical, Deus EX developer Eidos Montreal, Saints Row developer Volition, and many others. Chorus developer Fishlabs was part of Embracer’s acquisition of Koch Media (now Plaion), and according to a new report, the team was working on a sequel to Volition’s Red Faction: Guerilla. As reported by Rock Paper Shotgun, Fishlabs had pitched a new Red Faction game to Plaion shortly after Volition was shuttered, which anonymous former Fishlabs employees reportedly said felt “ghoulish.” With the developer’s experience working on sci-fi games like Chorus, it went ahead with the pitch nonetheless. According to the report, despite Fishlabs pitching the game to Plaion several times — including an elaborate pitch in November involving the team “hacking” their own presentation,” it was shot down.One set of story concept drafts for the project seemingly suggested that the game would be set 100 years after the events of Red Faction: Guerilla. It is said to have been envisioned as a “safe sequel,” taking place on a colorful Martian world similar in size to Guerilla’s map and featuring a female protagonist. Apparently, Fishlabs was hoping to have a more “open-ended” experience with this entry, offering immersive sim-esque features, including stealthy infiltrations, vehicle customization, and more.While it sucks to see a potential Red Faction: Guerilla sequel left in the dust, it appears Embracer has finished with its restructuring, so we’ll hopefully have seen the end of these terrible stories.
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