Unknown 9: Awakening will be cancelled due to the game's ‘failure’
Following 'Unknown 9: Awakening's "failure", developer Reflector Entertainment has signalled it will be cancelling the franchise and lay off some staff.
Reflector Entertainment has signalled an end to the ‘Unknown 9’ universe and will be hit by lay-offs following ‘Unknown 9: Awakening’s “failure”.
The studio had hoped to make more games, comics and novels following on from its 2024 action-adventure title - which was published by Bandai Namco - though after ‘Unknown 9: Awakening’s performance “didn’t come near the company’s expectations”, it will be laying the franchise to rest and letting go of some staff.
In a post on LinkedIn, Reflector CEO Herve Hoerdt said: “Today, I informed our teams that I made the decision to not greenlight further work on a future project that was in the conceptualisation phase and thus terminating this development line.
“Continuing this project would not have been sustainable for the future of the studio.
“Regrettably, this also means there will be redundancies following this decision.”
The developer's boss added ‘Unknown 9: Awakening’s disappointing release meant the series “didn’t warrant any further exploration”, with Reflector now shifting to a “single project approach the studio will adopt for the imminent future”.
Hoerdt continued: “This decision correlates directly with the failure of the studio’s ambitious and couragous first project, a new IP with a rich transmedia universe.
“The performance of the release didn’t come near the company’s expectations, after numerous timeline adjustments and investments, both financially and other, and didn’t warrant any further exploration in this universe.”
As for this “single project” Reflector will be working on, the studio boss revealed it was an “existing Bandai Namco IP”, and is “shaping up very well”.
