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Yesterday, it was reported that EA has canceled its upcoming single-player Black Panther game, with the team behind it – Cliffhanger Games – shutting down. The developers who worked on the title have been reacting to the news on social media, discussing more about the "truly special" project they were working on.
Concept artist Karla Ortiz was one person in the "incredible crew" that was "working on such an amazing and stunning game." In a post on Bluesky, she describes the title as "detailed, rich, beautiful," saying: "It breaks my heart the world won't see it. It also breaks my heart to say goodbye to the team. What an honor to work with you all. What a sad day."
Elaborating further in replies further down the thread, she states that "we were so excited to show the world! It was truly special." Heartbreakingly, she adds, "Every dev there wanted so badly to release the game. It was beautiful and such great care was given."
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Ortiz isn't the only one mourning the game and its studio. Game design director Sophie Mallinson says she's "still processing the news," but is full of praise for her fellow devs: "This is a dream team and you should snap up anyone who was working on this project. So sad that we might not ever get to see a Black Panther ARPG developed by the creators of the Nemesis System!!"
Meanwhile, senior environment architect Freddie Lee continues sharing the love for Cliffhanger Games in his own post: "Welp this happened today. It has to be said that during my short time there, I've had the honor and pleasure to work with people like Karla whose art inspired myself and the team, and also instilling confidence and growth into my professional artwork. This team was, and is GOAT."
Although not a developer at Cliffhanger Games, former Respawn Entertainment systems design director Rayme Vinson also provides a painful glimpse into how promising the Black Panther game was looking, even in its early stages. "When they shut down the Star Wars FPS, we got to see this game up close and talk to their dev team, because they could take on some of our folks," he writes.
"What they were building was ambitious and special and I was legitimately excited to play it someday, even if they'd only done [one quarter] of what they planned."
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It's very sad news, with a massive impact. Following the initial announcement, Respawn Entertainment senior encounter designer Patrick Wren said that "morale has been at an all-time low," and given EA's other cancelations and layoffs, that's not hard to believe.
I'm GamesRadar+'s Deputy News Editor, working alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield's student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming's news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you're sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.
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