The developer has now revealed that it’s parting ways with Take-Two, leaving it with a few options as to how to proceed. According to People Can Fly’s announcement, Take-Two shared its intent to terminate the relationship in a letter to the studio. The GTA publisher has been funding the project since it began, with People Can Fly’s New York team spearheading development. The terms of the settlement were not revealed, as it appears they’re yet to be decided. People Can Fly, however, said it would need to repay Take-Two for development advances received since 2020. The Polish developer explained that specifics will be determined based on the commercial model that gets decided for the game. As it stands, People Can Fly has the option to self-publish the game, or seek the help of a different publisher. Interestingly, Take-Two has not exercised its option to buy the IP rights, meaning the studio has retained those rights and is now their sole owner. The studio added that it is “determined to grow the project on its own.” “I assume we will part on good terms, and I don’t see reasons why we couldn’t work with Take-Two on some other project in the future,” said PCF CEO, Sebastian Wojciechowski. “We strongly believe in the Project Dagger’s potential and are now committed to continue its development within our self-publishing pipeline. The game is still in pre-production – our team is now focusing on closing combat and game loops and migrate from UE4 to UE5. I’m conscious that this decision will add investments on us, but self-publishing is part of our strategy. Of course, we are not ruling out working with a new publisher if this creates a compelling business opportunity.” Project Dagger is one of seven projects currently in development at People Can Fly’s various studios, according to the press release. One of which - Project Gemini - is funded by Square Enix. A few other projects will be self-funded, but PCF is working with publishing partners on two VR games beyond that. This is the latest in a string of bad news from the Polish group, which revealed last year that it had not received any royalties from its work on Outriders. Royalties are paid on revenue made after a game recoups its development budget, indicating that the sci-fi shooter RPG had yet to break even. People Can Fly’s strategy relies on shipping one game each year, so expect to hear about the studio’s next game in the near future.
