Fenyx Rising sequel in the bin – WGB, Home of AWESOME Reviews
According to the sleuths over at VGC, Ubisoft has cancelled its in-development sequel to Immortals: Fenyx Rising, Ubisoft’s colourful open-world adventure that had some Breath of the Wild vibes. I actually rather liked it, handing it a four out of five in my rather spiffy review which you should totally read. Hint, hint. The point is, I’m bummed out that it won’t be getting a proper follow-up.
Although Immortals didn’t set any sales records, it did find itself a decent audience, but according to VGC’s sources that was largely due to the price dropping, making people more willing to take a risk on an unknown IP. According to the same source, the upper management at Ubisoft felt the game had struggled to establish itself, which is PR speak for “it didn’t sell a metric arse-load” and made the decision to axe the sequel earlier this month.
The decision to cancel the sequel seems to be down to Ubisoft’s previously stated goal of leveraging its existing, established IP, hence why they currently have about a million Assassin’s Creed games in development. Yes, that statement is hyperbolic, but honestly not by that much.
The VGC article notes that Immortals sold around 70% less than Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla in Europe. Ubisoft themselves have kept quiet on the topic, indicating that the numbers weren’t anything special.
Ubisoft has since issued a statement to VGC that does not directly say that the sequel has been canned, but certainly appears to imply that it was.
“As part of our global strategy, we are redirecting and reallocating some creative teams and resources within the Quebec studio to other unannounced projects.” espoused Ubisoft.
“The expertise and technologies these teams developed will serve as an accelerator for the development of these key projects focused on our biggest brands. We have nothing further to share at this time.”
Kotaku has also verified what VGC reported with their own sources.
It’s a shame because last year Jeff Grubb indicated that he had heard the development team wanted to base the next game around Polynesian mythology, which sounds absolutely awesome.
Launching a new IP is a difficult thing, but companies like Ubisoft have the money and resources to take those risks. It’s disappointing that Ubisoft opted for the safest possible route when they could have had an enjoyable franchise on their hands.
