They lost millions on this „supergame.” Its cancellation turned out to be the best news for Alien: Isolation fans

Creative Assembly is one of the most respected development teams in the industry, having earned its place in gaming history largely thanks to the brilliant Total War strategy series. That said, the studio’s portfolio isn’t limited to strategy. They’ve also delivered games from other genres, most notably the fan-favorite Viking: Battle for Asgard and Spartan: Total Warrior, as well as the now cult-classic Alien: Isolation.

Creative Assembly almost got the chance to add another genre to its portfolio when Sega put them in charge of developing what was supposed to be their big “super game”. Hyenas was supposed to be a shooter that could go toe-to-toe with giants like Destiny, Apex Legends, and even Hunt: Showdown or PayDay. However, time has shown that Sega missed the mark completely while choosing the studio, and it ended up being a very costly mistake.

Recipe for success... at least "on paper"

I’d say it’s no surprise that Sega decided to put their trust in Creative Assembly. You’d think a studio of that size and versatility would have no problem putting together a solid online shooter.

And sure enough, "on paper," the whole idea behind Hyenas looked like it had real potential. The game was meant to present a grim vision of the future where Earth had become uninhabitable, the wealthiest had fled to Mars, and the less fortunate were left to survive in Scourge - a sort of cosmic slum. Among the residents of the latter, the so-called Hyenas took the lead. They raided ships carrying precious resources and relics from the once-blue Earth, often targeting cultural items like Rubik’s cubes or video game figurines.

You'd play as one of these renegades, teaming up in groups of three to fight for valuable loot against both other players and AI-controlled opponents. Each Hyena would have unique abilities, so success likely depended on making a team whose members synergised with one another. Like in typical extraction shooters, once we filled our pockets, we’d still need to make it out of the area safely. The game was meant to be dynamic - even chaotic at times. Chaos would ramp up even more in zero-gravity areas, which players would also need to navigate.

Hyenas. Source: Creative Assembly / Sega.

Rocky way to the goal

The issue is that shortly after canceling that entry, we found out that there was also chaos in the production process of Hyenas. It’s worth noting that the game was originally being built on the Alien: Isolation engine, but over time, the developers had to switch to Unreal Engine 4. On top of that, the developers' creativity was kept in check, which ended up making the whole project feel a bit too safe.

The first news about Creative Assembly working on a new game came out back in November 2017. In 2018, we found out it was going to be a sci-fi game, and by February, we learned it would kick off an entirely new franchise. By July 2019, the first rumors started circulating that the game would be a lot like Overwatch or the previously mentioned Apex Legends.

Around the same time, director Neill Blomkamp paid a visit to Creative Assembly, where he presented a short film that laid out the creative vision for the whole project. He was the one who came up with the idea of giving the game a slightly more "humorous" or even "meme-like" vibe, including the concept of rich folks on Mars collecting earthly cultural items.

From then on, things moved quite quickly. In May 2021, Sega started hyping up Creative Assembly’s new game, claiming it could bring in as much as $900 million in revenue. The big moment arrived in June 2022, when Hyenas was officially announced. Players weren’t exactly thrilled - many had been hoping for an Alien: Isolation sequel, and what they saw in Hyenas struck a lot of people as lacking a clear identity. Tom Henderson, a well-known industry journalist, came to Hyenas’ defense, but by that point, the game’s fate was basically sealed.

Sega even thought about switching Hyenas to a free-to-play model, but in the end, that plan never went through. In the end, by October 2023, it was announced that the game was officially canceled, a move that also led to layoffs at Creative Assembly.

Soon after, a flood of behind-the-scenes gossip and juicy details started coming to light. Rumor has it that the publisher ignored the developers’ warnings that they were basically making a “game for no one," a claim supposedly backed up by closed tests that barely excited any players.

Hyenas. Source: Creative Assembly / Sega.

A costly mistake and its consequences

The mistake made by Sega was very costly. Hoping that Hyenas would become a hit on the level of Overwatch, the Japanese publisher wasn’t planning to hold back on the project. Unofficially, the project was said to have cost Sega around $90 million - more than any game in its portfolio so far, including Shenmue.

All of this, along with the poor reception of another Creative Assembly title, Total War: Pharaoh, briefly cast a shadow over the studio. When Sega carried out a round of layoffs, most of the 240 employees affected were reportedly from this very team.

In the end, Creative Assembly bounced back. After the flop of Hyenas, the studio could fully return to what it does best - crafting strategy games - and, much to fans’ excitement, focus on Alien: Isolation 2, which was announced in October 2024.

Hyenas

cancelled

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• Overview

• Creative Assembly
• Sega
• FPP shooters (FPS)
• cancelled games
• Necro Gaming