SEGA reveals exactly why it cancelled Hyenas, its live service Super Game

SEGA's ill-fated FPS game Hyenas was wiped out last year, and new investor reports give us an idea of the publisher's thought process behind the game's cancellation.

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A bit ago, SEGA, the house of Sonic, wanted to make a live service first-person shooter. The project was called Hyenas, and it was in development at its European subsidiary Creative Assembly. Hyenas was to be the budding fruit of a nascent new strategy from SEGA--one called Super Games, which took aim at online-driven experiences that lasted for multiple years.Unfortunately, the project was cancelled and Hyenas was shut down before it even launched. Now we know why SEGA pulled the plug.

In a word, it comes down to the same that's wracked the games industry over the last two years: Cost. Live games are expensive in all aspects. SEGA should know--it runs and operates Phantasy Star Online 2, a successful live game.

Q: The decision to cancel the development of "HYENAS" in the fiscal year ending March 2024 was quick and appropriate. Why was this decision made?

A: We made the decision with an emphasis on quantitative information.

There were positive comments in the early tests, so we considered launching it and leaving it to players to decide, but, in addition to the fact that it is a new IP, and that European studios lack experience in online game development and management, the cost structure is worsening due to inflation, etc.

In light of this situation, and taking into consideration the profitability of operation and additional development after launch, we have come to the decision to cancel the project.

It wasn't that SEGA didn't have faith in Creative Assembly, or Hyenas itself. It was just that the cost of running the game--cost of sales, upkeep, management, funding the development of new content in the hopes of hooking an audience en masse--all of these things were just too expensive for SEGA to pay for. Better to just make the write-down and scrap the project, and that's what SEGA did.

At the time of Hyenas' cancellation, SEGA said this:

(1) Cancelation of titles under development In response to the lower profitability of the European region, we have reviewed the title portfolio of each development base in Europe and the resulting action will be to cancel "HYENAS" and some unannounced titles under development. Accordingly, we will implement a write-down of work-in-progress for titles under development.

With Hyenas cancelled, Creative Assembly is currently developing an Alien Isolation sequel.