A Sniper Elite battle-royale spin-off, announced just three months ago, has reportedly been canceled after losing funding from Chinese gaming giant Tencent. The news comes via Insider Gaming, which did not provide a concrete reason for Tencent's withdrawal but suggested it might be related to the high-profile failure of Sony's live-service FPS Concord. Insider Gaming reports that 'higher-ups' at Sniper Elite developer Rebellion implied during meetings with staff that Tencent may have become 'skittish' about live-service projects following Concord's disastrous launch, which ultimately led to the closure of its developer, Firewalk Studios.
Code-named Project Archipelago but internally referred to as Sniper Island, the battle royale would have featured sniper teams of three battling to become the last squad standing as part of what Rebellion labeled as a 'new IP.' Early alpha playtests for the game took place in August, shortly after its announcement. GameSpot reached out to Rebellion for comment and will update if a response is received. According to Insider Gaming, no layoffs are occurring as a result of the cancellation. Those who were working on Project Archipelago have been reassigned to other projects, one of which is Sniper Elite: Resistance, the next main entry in the long-running third-person shooter franchise slated for release in January.
Sniper Elite: Resistance will feature a campaign that runs parallel to that of Sniper Elite 5, as players infiltrate occupied France during World War 2 as part of the French resistance. In addition to a campaign mode, the game also includes 16-player multiplayer and a three-player survival mode. It also brings back the fan-favorite Axis Invasion mode, where players in the campaign can opt to have enemy players infiltrate the opposing forces' ranks (or do the infiltrating themselves), increasing the stakes of the game's sniper-centric battles.
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