Polish developer People Can Fly announced today a new agreement with Sony to develop a prototype based on one of the PlayStation company's franchises. The game's codename is Project Delta, which really doesn't give away much.
The Production Agreement provides that work on the Product will be carried out in the so-called ‘work-for-hire model’., i.e. work performed by the Company as a developer on commissioned by and on behalf of the Publisher, in return for which the Company will receive from the Publisher an agreed remuneration.
In accordance with the Production Agreement, work on the Product will be divided into stages (milestones). The detailed terms and conditions of cooperation between the parties regarding the implementation of and payments for milestones are set out in an appendix to the Production Agreement (milestone schedule). The scope and provisions of the Production Agreement do not deviate from the provisions of the Production Agreement.
People Can Fly is far from new to this kind of collaboration. In June 2023, we learned that they had partnered with Microsoft to create a game based on one of their IPs. Given their past (they worked with Epic on the original Gears of War trilogy and even led the development of the 2013 spin-off Gears of War: Judgment), it was a safe bet that it would be another Gears title. Indeed, in late January, it was confirmed that the game is Gears of War: E-Day, co-developed with The Coalition.
There's no mention of the project's budget here, though, unlike with the Microsoft collaboration. Anyway, the studio's pedigree sits squarely in the shooter genre, with games like Painkiller, Bulletstorm, and Outriders in their development history. As such, PlayStation fans are already hoping that Sony has provided the green light for a new Resistance or Killzone game since Insomniac and Guerrilla Games are now busy with other work. Both sci-fi franchises have languished for over a decade despite having very interesting settings.
In other People Can Fly news, the Polish studio recently announced that it will phase out its publishing business of Virtual Reality games, citing the lack of investments in the area even from the VR platform holders. The developer will now focus on traditional triple-A development, whether with self-publishing, work-for-hire, or co-development models.
