Games6 months after a complete reboot, Remedy cancels the multiplayer game it was making with TencentWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

Games6 months after a complete reboot, Remedy cancels the multiplayer game it was making with TencentWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

(Image credit: Rockstar Games)

Max Payne

After more than two years of work and a complete reboot that brought with it a whole new codename, Remedy has announced that Project Kestrel, being developed in partnership with Tencent, has been cancelled so the studio can “focus more on the other games in its portfolio.”

Originally known as Codename Vanguard, the game was announced in December 2021 as “a free-to-play cooperative adventure” that “marks Remedy’s first entry into Games-as-a-Service business model,” CEO Tero Virtalasaid at the time. “We are building something new and exciting for co-operative multiplayer space, on top of Remedy’s strengths.”

But that apparently didn’t work out either. In an announcement made last week, Virtala said Kestrel had still not moved beyond the “early concept stage,” and with Remedy’s other projects picking up steam, it’s decided to put the priority on that work.

“We can reallocate talented Kestrel developers to these other game projects, and many of our support functions get additional focus on their operations,” Virtala said. “This is yet another means to ensure that our game projects continue advancing well.” He added that while Remedy has opted to cancel Kestrel, “our team has done good work and provided us with valuable learnings.”

I’m a little bummed out that we won’t get to see what Remedy had cooking for its first-ever live game, but the studio does have an awful lot on the go including theMax Payne remakes,Control 2, themultiplayer Control spin-off, and theAlan Wake 2 expansions, two of which are currently in development.

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