"Next-Gen Blade Runner Game Scrapped: Studio Behind Until Dawn Pulls Plug"

Supermassive Games, renowned for their chilling horror titles such as Until Dawn, The Quarry, and The Dark Pictures anthology, has reportedly halted development on an unannounced Blade Runner game. According to Insider Gaming, the project, titled Blade Runner: Time To Live, was envisioned as a "character-focused, cinematic, action-adventure" game set in 2065. It would have followed the journey of So-Lange, a vintage Nexus-6 model and the last Blade Runner, tasked with retiring the leader of an underground replicant network. After being betrayed and left for dead, So-Lange's story would have unfolded through a mix of stealth, combat, exploration, investigation, and intense character interactions.

Insider Gaming revealed that the game's development budget was around $45 million, with $9 million allocated for external performance capture and acting talent. The single-player experience was expected to last 10-12 hours, with pre-production starting in September 2024 and a planned release in September 2027 for PC and both current and next-gen consoles. However, the project reportedly fell through due to complications with Alcon Entertainment, the rights holder for Blade Runner, leading to its cancellation late last year.

In related news, Annapurna Interactive announced in the summer of 2023 that it was working on its first in-house Blade Runner game, Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth, marking the first Blade Runner game in 25 years. Unfortunately, there have been no further updates on this project since its initial announcement.

Amidst these developments, Supermassive Games has been busy with other projects, including the upcoming Directive 8020 in The Dark Pictures series and Little Nightmares 3. The studio also faced layoffs last year, with around 90 workers let go, as it entered a "period of consultation," according to Bloomberg's Jason Schreier.

On a brighter note, fans of Supermassive can look forward to the cinematic adaptation of Until Dawn hitting theaters this weekend. For more on this, check out our review of David F. Sandberg's take on Until Dawn on the big screen.