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After ten years of uncertainty over the game’s status, Wild Sheep Studio creative director Steven ter Heide has confirmed that the PlayStation-exclusive title Wild is no longer in active development and has seemingly been canceled. The game was believed to be alive up until 2021, but the inevitable has finally been confirmed as the studio has moved on to a new project.
Wild was stuck in development hell
Wild’s development history lives up to the game’s name. Developer Wild Sheep Studio was founded by Rayman creator Michel Ancel. The studio announced its first project, PS4-exclusive online survival adventure Wild, in 2014 with a glitzy trailer at Gamescom. In the years that followed, there was gameplay, some concept art, a single offscreen image, and a trademark renewal that suggested the game was still in progress.
The situation became complicated when Michel Ancel suddenly left the gaming industry completely in 2020 to focus on a new wildlife sanctuary endeavor. Accusations of his toxic behavior and poor management at Ubisoft then emerged, although he insisted that wasn’t the reason for his departure from the industry.
Wild Sheep vowed to continue work without him. The studio continued to recruit new staff and list the game as a current project until 2021, despite rumors of cancelation. Then things went quiet. Following three years of silence, ter Heide confirmed on X (formerly Twitter) that the studio is “no longer actively working” on Wild. It seems that Wild has finally been canceled.
The studio seems keen to leave the game behind. Wild Sheep has stripped down its website to a single landing page and replaced its logo. However, details on the studio’s new project are very scarce at the moment. All that we can glean is that the description for the studio says they “love crafting games filled with positivity, memorable characters and believable worlds.”