[Leak] Wildlands, the cancelled game from Eidos Montreal that has cost the company hundreds of millions and years of development

Well, yes, we have here something that could be a rumor but, given who it comes from, we prefer to describe it as a leak.

According to Tom Henderson/InsiderGaming, a major project by Eidos Montreal (Tomb Raider, Guardians of the Galaxy) has been cancelled after years in development.

The game was to be called Wildlands and, internally, had the codename P11 as it was the 11th game developed by Eidos Montreal; it had been in development since early 2019.

Almost seven years of development. That’s a long time. And many millions.

It seems that Wildlands, without ever being released, has consumed hundreds of millions of dollars in budget. A veritable black hole for the company, which recently announced layoffs. But, furthermore, this situation led to the cancellation of more games, including the cancellation in January 2024 of a new videogame in the Deus Ex series.

Insider Gaming has footage of Wildlands, but it was handed over on the condition that they not show it. According to reports, the game bears a striking resemblance to WiLD, by Wild Sheet Studio. So much so that they seemed like identical projects.

Here is Tom Henderson’s description of Wildlands:

(…) players would take control of a character named River. River was part of a group of teenagers called Spiritbounds, who could ward off bad spirits with their magical staffs and ride mythical creatures. River’s companion was a giant-moose-looking animal called ‘Redheart’, which the player could ride to navigate around the map more quickly.

What seems particularly bizarre is that, after hundreds of millions have been spent on this game, and following nearly seven years of development, the game has been cancelled. It was due to be released in late 2027.

It seems that, over the course of its development, the game was built using four different engines, and there were various approaches to the story. All of this meant the game was eating up millions in the budget, affecting the developer’s other projects, and ultimately, Embracer may have delivered the final blow by not expecting a return on all the expenditure…

Let’s hope we’ll eventually get to see some footage of the game and learn more about it. In the meantime, many thanks to Insider Gaming and Tom Henderson for the exclusive.