Cliffhanger Games’ Black Panther, one of two Marvel games in development under Electronic Arts, has reportedly been cancelled, and the studio closed. Laura Miele, EA Entertainment president, wrote an email to staff (obtained by IGN) announcing this, along with other layoffs.
She also addressed that other project cancellations and layoffs were to “sharpen our focus and put our creative energy behind the most significant growth opportunities.”
“These decisions are hard. They affect people we’ve worked with, learned from, and shared real moments with. We’re doing everything we can to support them – including finding opportunities within EA, where we’ve had success helping people land in new roles.”
The next set of layoffs will impact both mobile and central development teams, though it’s unknown how many were affected. IGN learned that the number is less than the 300 recent layoffs from Respawn Entertainment and other EA studios. Around this time, EA had also reportedly cancelled an unannounced Titanfall extraction shooter.
As for Black Panther, it was revealed through job listings to be an open-world title with a new system called “Open Story,” which would incorporate dialogue and conversations into various “interconnected systems” for its narrative. There was no gameplay or announcement trailer released.
Kevin Stephens, former studio head of Monolith Productions, led Cliffhanger Games. The Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War studio also shut down earlier this year with its next game, Wonder Woman, cancelled.
