While

Outriders
may
have
failed
to
recoup
its
own
development
budget,
there
was
still
hope
among
fans,
myself
included,
that
a
sequel
could
build
upon
the
first
game’s
solid
foundations
and
fulfil
its
potential.
Sadly,
a
new
report
has
laid
that
hope
to
rest,
claiming
that
Outriders
2
has
been
cancelled.

Thumb
Wars
broke
the
story,
stating
a
source
informed
them
that
Outriders
2
was
one
of
the
recently
publically
cancelled
projects.
The
information
was
apparently
verified
by
a
secondary
source
as
well.
According
to
the
sources,
the
game
was
“nearly
finished”
and
that
the
“development
team
only
became
aware
of
the
gravity
of
the
studio’s
situation
at
the
same
time
as
everyone
else.”

This
information
should
be
taken
with
a
dose
of
salt.
Established
in
2024,
Thumb
Wars
does
not
have
a
track
record
for
breaking
exclusive
stories
and
their
writing
team
doesn’t
have
much
experience.
This
isn’t
to
say
that
they
do
not
have
sources
or
can’t
have
access
to
exclusive
information,
just
that
their
claims
should
be
treated
with
reasonable
scepticism.

The
situation
Thumb
Wars
refers
to
is

People
Can
Fly’s
ongoing
financial
problems.
While
the
company
has
seen
growing
revenue
over
the
past
few
years,
profits
have
not
risen.
In
fact,
they’ve
reported
over
-$60
million
in
loses.

Right
now,
the
company
is
being
kept
afloat
by
its
ongoing
work
on

Gears
of
War:
E-Day,
along
with
working
on
a

mystery
project
with
Sony
on
a
PlayStation
IP.
They
are
also
going
to
release
Lost
Rift
–
an
FPS
that
blends
base-building,
cooperative
PvE,
and
intense
PvPvE
gameplay
–
into
Early
Access
“soon”.

Outriders
was
an
interesting
sci-fi
title
that
managed
to
draw
in
3.5
million
players
in
its
first
month,
largely
due
to
launching
onto
Game
Pass,
and
while
the
reviews
were
nothing
amazing,
a
lot
of
people
seemed
to
quite
like
the
game.
However,
it
did
not
manage
to
break
even,
as
was
confirmed
multiple
times
by
People
Can
Fly
in
financial
documents.
The
publishing
deal
with
Square
Enix
allowed
People
Can
Fly
to
earn
royalties
only
after
Outriders
recouped
its
development
costs,
including
distribution
and
marketing.
Outriders
failed
to
earn
any
royalties,
and
therefore
did
not
make
back
its
costs,
sadly.

A
sequel
was
therefore
already
a
riskier
proposition.
I
personally
thought
a
sequel
had
a
lot
of
potential,
so
I’m
sad
that
we
won’t
get
to
play
the
finished
project.