Remedy Entertainment, the studio behind Alan Wake 2 and Control, has announced that it's canceled the secretive Codename Kestrel, a multiplayer game being worked on in conjunction with Tencent.
In an announcement on its website, Remedy CEO Tero Vertala says that although Codename Kestrel showed "early promise", the studio wants to reallocate Kestrel developers to other ongoing projects.
Virtala also says the project was canceled for "wider Remedy benefits", although the Kestrel team has "done good work and provided [Remedy] with valuable learnings".
Codename Kestrel was originally announced under the name Project Vanguard back in 2021, which is also when it was revealed that the studio would be partnering with Tencent for the game.
Vanguard was subsequently delayed in 2022, with Remedy seemingly pointing to the poorly-received single-player campaign for CrossfireX as a reason to keep projects in the dark for longer.
Following that, in late 2023, Remedy announced it would reboot Vanguard alongside Tencent, shifting its focus from making a free-to-play game to creating a premium product. That's also when the name was changed from Vanguard to Kestrel.
It's worth noting that throughout this entire process, Kestrel was technically never actually revealed in terms of gameplay or even setup; as such, it's hard to know what the project actually would have been, other than a co-operative multiplayer experience.
Bear in mind, too, that Codename Kestrel isn't the same project as Project Condor, which is Remedy's upcoming multiplayer Control spinoff (and which might end up being called FBC: Firebreak, if a recently-filed trademark is anything to go by).
This cancellation comes after Remedy revealed it had experienced a "challenging" year in 2023, with revenue declining despite the launch of major sequel Alan Wake 2.
That game also still hasn't made its budget back, according to Remedy, despite crossing 1.3 million units sold and being the studio's fastest-selling game to date. Stay tuned for more info on all things Remedy as soon as we get them.
