Hyenas
by Creative Assembly / Sega
About the Game
An asymmetric multiplayer extraction shooter set in space. Developed over several years by Creative Assembly — the studio behind the Total War series — as their first non-Total War game.
Why the Developer Killed It
Cancelled Before Launch After Years of Development
Hyenas was cancelled weeks before its planned release date after Sega reviewed projected commercial performance against development costs. Players who had wishlisted and anticipated the game received nothing.
Mass Layoffs at Creative Assembly
The cancellation resulted in significant redundancies at Creative Assembly. Developers who had worked on Hyenas for years lost their jobs within weeks of what should have been the game's launch.
Publisher Pulled Product After Financial Assessment
Sega conducted a portfolio review following underperformance across its Western studios and decided Hyenas would not achieve projected returns. The decision was made by the publisher, not the development team.
Hyenas never launched. That is the first and defining fact. Creative Assembly spent years — some estimates suggest the project began as early as 2017 — building an asymmetric extraction shooter that would be the studio's first game outside the Total War franchise. It was shown publicly, had a closed beta, and had a release date. On September 27 2023, Sega cancelled it.
The cancellation came after Sega conducted a strategic review of its Western studio operations. The company had committed to multiple live-service projects across its portfolio and was assessing which would achieve return on investment at scale. Hyenas did not pass that assessment. The game — years of work by hundreds of people — was discontinued weeks before release.
Significant layoffs followed at Creative Assembly. Developers who had been building the game found themselves out of work. The games industry's coverage focused on the business rationale; the human cost was the studio absorbing a project cancellation that was not caused by creative failure but by publisher financial modelling. Players who had wishlisted the game or participated in the beta received nothing. There was no game to release, no refund to issue, and no product to preserve.
Information sourced from public records, press coverage, and developer announcements.