Outriders developer People Can Fly has announced that it is parting ways with Take-Two, the publisher of its upcoming game codenamed Project Dagger.
In a statement published on its own website, People Can Fly revealed that it has received a letter from Take-Two detailing its “intent to terminate the development and publishing agreement by means of mutual understanding between the parties.”
The split will see People Can Fly retain the intellectual property rights to its game, and so it is free to either self-publish Project Dagger or seek a replacement publisher. The developer will, however, still have to pay back Take-Two for the money it provided to fund Project Dagger’s costs. The details of this repayment have yet to be determined, and will be arranged depending on how the game is eventually published.
Project Dagger has been in development for two years at People Can Fly’s New York studio. Very little is known about it, aside from that it is a new action-adventure IP.
In a statement, People Can Fly CEO Sebastian Wojciechowski said: “I assume we will part on good terms, and I don’t see reasons why we couldn’t work with Take-Two on some other project in the future. We strongly believe in the Project Dagger’s potential and are now committed to continue its development within our self-publishing pipeline. The game is still in pre-production – our team is now focusing on closing combat and game loops and migrate from UE4 to UE5. I’m conscious that this decision will add investments on us, but self-publishing is part of our strategy. Of course, we are not ruling out working with a new publisher if this creates a compelling business opportunity.”
The statement also provides an overview of the developer’s numerous other in-production games. Project Gemini is being created in partnership with Square Enix, while Projects Bifrost and Victoria will both be self-published by People Can Fly. In earlier concept stages of development is Project Red. The developer is also working on two VR games; Green Hell VR, and a new project based on an existing People Can Fly IP. The company intends to release one game per year from 2024, either through a publisher or self-published.
Earlier this year People Can Fly released Outriders Worldslayer, an expansion to its 2021 third-person shooter. Outriders was its first new game since leaving Epic Games and returning to independant development. With the amount of games it has in development, it appears that it’s planning an ambitious future for itself.
Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK News and Features Editor.