Splash Damage has introduced that it has cancelled improvement of the web motion sport Transformers: Reactivate, and that layoffs on the studio are doubtless in consequence.
“Today, now we have some very tough information to share, the choice has been made to finish improvement of Transformers: Reactivate,” the studio mentioned in a message posted to X. “This means we will probably be scaling right down to refocus our efforts on different initiatives. Unfortunately, regardless of each effort, a lot of roles throughout the studio at the moment are doubtlessly on the danger of redundancy.
“This resolution didn’t come flippantly, and it’s a tough time for the studio and our folks. We need to take a second to thank the crew who work on Transformers for his or her dedication and fervour.”
Transformers: Reactivate was introduced on the 2022 Game Awards as an “on-line motion sport” for 1-4 gamers, seemingly set in a not-too-distant future by which the Decepticons have conquered Earth. “All now we have left is our hope for the Autobots, as we salvage them from the rubble left behind,” the playtfr.com web site says.
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The reveal trailer was remarkably wanting Transformers, focusing virtually completely on a band of tough, scrappy-looking people doing a Robocop-style reactivation of an Autobot who I’m fairly certain is Bumblebee. It was a light-touch tease, and sadly it was all we actually noticed of the sport. A full reveal trailer and closed beta was deliberate for 2023, however in December of that yr Splash Damage mentioned it wasn’t going to occur. Instead, “thrilling reveals and epic developments” had been promised for 2024.
Splash Damage did not say why its Transformers sport was cancelled, but it surely did credit score Hasbro as being “an unimaginable and supportive associate all through,” and expressed hope that will probably be in a position to work with the corporate once more in some unspecified time in the future sooner or later.
Hasbro has beforehand dedicated to going large on videogames following the runaway success of Baldur’s Gate 3: Dan Ayoub, head of digital product improvement at Hasbro’s Wizards of the Coast, mentioned in May 2024 that “Hasbro is in actual fact making videogames … now we have a substantial funding in our studio construction; we have over $1 billion in video games proper now being developed.” Hasbro additionally reportedly has a big-budget GI Joe videogame within the works.
Alongside Transformers: Reactivate, Splash Damage was additionally engaged on Project Astrid, a survival sport being developed in partnership with streamers Shroud and Sacriel. There’s no indication that venture will probably be impacted by the layoffs, however I’ve reached out for extra data and can replace if I obtain a reply.
