Ubisoft have cancelled yet another video game: Project Q
Announced by leaks, cancelled by leaks
Ubisoft's Project Q was revealed in April 2022 after several leaks. At the time, it was described as a "team battle arena" game with "a variety of PvP modes" that was in "early development."
Now Ubisoft say that they have cancelled it.
"We can confirm we will no longer support the development of Project Q in order to focus on priority projects, to which our teams are being reallocated," an Ubisoft spokesperson told VGC, after leaks over the cancellation earlier in the week.
Project Q was first revealed via a GeForce Now leak in November 2021, before alleged footage (since removed) leaked out the following year. These leaks eventually led to Ubisoft confirming the game's existence.
Ubisoft have been on a cancellation spree of late, with three unannounced projects cancelled last week. The cancellations come as Ubisoft say they're facing "worsening macroeconomic conditions" and are undertaking "targeted restructuring" - eg. layoffs. This news led to a French union calling for Ubisoft Paris employees to strike, and anger at how it was communicated led to Ubisoft CEO apologising in a 'I'm sorry you feel that way' way. Employee group A Better Ubisoft continues to campaign for a better response to many allegations of a toxic workplace culture within the publisher.
Project Q seemed to fit within Ubisoft's much-stated ambition to transition towards more live service games, but the studio doesn't have a good track record in the space. Their battle royale, Hyper Scape, failed to find an audience and closed down, and their Ghost Recon battle royale was canned before closed testing began.
It's not uncommon for game projects to be cancelled during development, but Ubisoft do seem to announce, cancel, or indefinitely delay more games than most.