‘Hyenas’ was Sega’s “biggest budget game” since ‘Shenmue’, claims report
Hyenas was the “most heavily funded title” in Sega‘s line-up before it was cancelled, according to claims made by anonymous Creative Assembly staff.
YouTuber Volound got in contact with a number of anonymous developers who had been working on the game before it was cancelled in September.
They alleged that the development of Hyenas was “cursed” with fluctuating creative direction, an engine swap that caused significant disorder, and a lack of clarity on who the game was appealing to.
A factor in this was the apparent continued commercial underperformance of Creative Assembly products like Alien: Isolation and Halo Wars 2. Consequently, leadership was said to have focused on what features would guarantee a sure fire success, with inspirations from Escape From Tarkov.
Apparently, creatives could not decide what angle the game was going to go down, either “loveable rogues” in a “gritty” post-Earth future or centred on a feeling of “gleeful audacity”.
“This was a period where it felt like we just had no idea where we were going with the tone, or what needed to be done,” claimed one developer on the shifting designs and motivations of the characters.
However, director Neill Blomkamp’s visit to Creative Assembly was said to have handed a lifeline for the as-yet unannounced Hyenas. Blomkamp was a fan of Alien: Isolation, which was the main reason for his visit in 2019, but he offered ideas for how Hyenas could balance both dystopia and humour.
“He also had that idea of inserting a lot of internet humour and stuff,” explained the developer. “He even made a mood video to show what he was thinking, and to be honest after that period of ‘[what the fuck] are we doing here’, it was a real shot in the arm to have some DIRECTION (the project so often felt utterly rudderless).”
Blomkamp’s involvement, however minor or major it ended up being, along with a strew of other “big names in the company” meant that Hyenas became Sega’s “most heavily funded title”.
Video Games Chronicle‘s own sources claimed that Hyenas benefitted from Sega’s biggest budget ever for a game, surpassing Shenmue which cost the company $70million (£57.4m) in 1999.
In spite of the support, another developer shared that “all internal feedback pointed to it being a bad game, a poor experience, and something ultimately that will melt into the background of an already saturated multiplayer shooter market”.
At the time of writing, neither Creative Assembly or Sega have acknowledged what was alleged in Volound’s video.
In other gaming news, Hitman: Blood Money – Reprisal is on its way to Nintendo Switch this winter, alongside mobile versions that “refine” the experience for “screens large and small”.
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Imogen Donovan
NME
