Remedy Entertainment has officially scrapped Project Kestrel, an in-development multiplayer game designed to expand the Remedy Connected Universe (RCU). Despite showing “early promise” in the concept stage, Remedy has chosen to move on and refocus on its existing projects.
That includes new DLC for Alan Wake 2, Control 2, the Max Payne 1 & 2 remake, and another multiplayer project known as Project Condor, which remains in development. The decision to cancel Kestrel will allow Remedy to reassign staff to bolster each game’s development with added experience. It will also remove the company’s investment needs, and needs for recruitment.
“Codename Kestrel showed early promise, but the project was still in its early concept stage,” Remedy CEO Tero Virtala said in a press release. “Our other projects have advanced well and are moving to the next stages of development, and increasing focus on them provides us with benefits.”
“We can reallocate talented Kestrel developers to these other game projects, and many of our support functions get additional focus on their operations. This is yet another means to ensure that our game projects continue advancing well.”
Read: Remedy’s Project Vanguard is being rebooted as a premium game
As noted, Project Kestrel had been in the works since November 2023. It originally started life as a free-to-play game known as “Project Vanguard” before it was rebooted, in the concept stage. The game had received investment from Tencent, which was also co-publishing the title.
In recent years, live service games have had a particularly rough time finding success, with many high profile games launching as critical and commercial failures, despite major marketing pushes, and industry enthusiasm for online multiplayer experiences.
It’s likely the cancellation of Project Kestrel was, at least partially, inspired by these recent trends. There’s also the matter that Remedy already has one live service game in development – Condor – which requires more time and attention for an effective launch to market.
Prior to its cancellation, Project Kestrel had not been formally detailed by Remedy, with work ceasing before public details about its focus and scope were revealed. With this project now dropped, Remedy will refocus on a smaller, stronger slate of new titles for the future.
