"Next-Gen Blade Runner Game Scrapped by Until Dawn Studio"

Supermassive Games, the creators behind acclaimed horror titles like Until Dawn, The Quarry, and The Dark Pictures anthology, have reportedly halted development on an unannounced game set in the Blade Runner universe. According to Insider Gaming, the project, titled Blade Runner: Time To Live, was described as a "character focused, cinematic, action adventure" set in 2065. The narrative would have followed So-Lange, a vintage Nexus-6 model and the last Blade Runner, tasked with retiring the leader of an underground replicant network. Betrayed and left for dead, So-Lange's journey would have involved stealth, combat, exploration, investigation, and intense character interactions.

Insider Gaming revealed that Blade Runner: Time To Live was backed by a development budget of around $45 million, which included $9 million dedicated to external performance capture and acting talent. The game was planned to offer a 10-12 hour single-player experience, with pre-production starting in September 2024 and a targeted release in September 2027 on PC and both current and next-gen consoles.

The project reportedly fell through due to complications with Alcon Entertainment, the rights holder for Blade Runner, leading to its cancellation late last year.

In a related development, publisher Annapurna Interactive announced in the summer of 2023 that they would be working on their first in-house game, Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth, marking the first Blade Runner game in 25 years. However, there have been no updates on this project since the initial announcement.

Meanwhile, Supermassive Games has been busy with other ventures, including the next installment in the Dark Pictures series, Directive 8020, and development on Little Nightmares 3. The studio also faced layoffs last year, with around 90 employees affected, as reported by Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, during a "period of consultation."

Adding to their portfolio, Supermassive's Until Dawn has been adapted into a movie that is hitting theaters this weekend. For those interested, you can read our review of David F. Sandberg's take on Until Dawn on the big screen here.