After two years of development, Take-Two dropped the Polish developers’ game…

Project Dagger is one of seven projects officially confirmed and in the works at People Can Fly. It’s an action-adventure IP that the studio was working on with Take-Two. Still, in their latest financial report, they announced that this project will not be realized as previously planned, as the Strauss Zelnick-led publisher (which is under fire right now due to the Grand Theft Auto VI leak!) pulled the rug out from under People Can Fly.

It means that Take-Two has terminated the agreement and will no longer be involved in the development of Project Dagger, which doesn’t automatically mean that the IP rights and achievements have gone to Take-Two, as they have not bought out People Can Fly, so they will continue to work on the game. According to Sebastian Wojciechowski, the studio’s CEO, the two parties parted on good terms, and he thinks they may work with Take-Two on something in the future.

The downside is that the Poles will have to pay Take-Two back the development advances they have received since 2020. The commercial model will determine how much the publisher, which is already making a killing on Grand Theft Auto Online, will receive. Project Dagger could get help through another publisher, or self-publishing could emerge as an option. Wojciechowski says the studio is confident in the game’s potential, although it is still in the pre-production phase. Right now, they’re working on moving the combat and gameplay loops from Unreal Engine 4 to 5.

In addition to Project Dagger, People Can Fly has six other projects in the pipeline. Five are self-funded, and the sixth (codenamed Project Gemini) is funded by Square Enix (the two parties teamed up to create Outriders in 2021).

Source: WCCFTech