Embracer reportedly killed a Red Faction: Guerilla sequel

A potential Red Faction: Guerrilla sequel was reportedly in the works before it was killed off by struggling gaming giant Embracer.

Embracer reportedly killed a Red Faction: Guerilla sequel
Tom West

Tom West

Published

It's been a rough year for layoffs in the industry, and no company has hit the headlines for destroying studios as much as Embracer. Following the aftermath of a result of a $2 billion deal falling through in 2023, just this year we've heard that new Timesplitters and Deus EX games were killed off during the company's restructure, and now a report suggests the company also killed off a potential new Red Faction game.

Embracer reportedly shot down a Red Faction sequel

canceled red faction game

During the company's round of mass acquisitions before this period of devastation, Embracer acquired a wealth of talent from across the industry, including TimeSplitters developer Free Radical, Deus EX developer Eidos Montreal, Saints Row developer Volition, and many others. Chorus developer Fishlabs was part of Embracer's acquisition of Koch Media (now Plaion), and according to a new report, the team was working on a sequel to Volition's Red Faction: Guerilla.

As reported by Rock Paper Shotgun, Fishlabs had pitched a new Red Faction game to Plaion shortly after Volition was shuttered, which anonymous former Fishlabs employees reportedly said felt "ghoulish." With the developer's experience working on sci-fi games like Chorus, it went ahead with the pitch nonetheless. According to the report, despite Fishlabs pitching the game to Plaion several times — including an elaborate pitch in November involving the team "hacking" their own presentation," it was shot down.

One set of story concept drafts for the project seemingly suggested that the game would be set 100 years after the events of Red Faction: Guerilla. It is said to have been envisioned as a "safe sequel," taking place on a colorful Martian world similar in size to Guerilla's map and featuring a female protagonist. Apparently, Fishlabs was hoping to have a more "open-ended" experience with this entry, offering immersive sim-esque features, including stealthy infiltrations, vehicle customization, and more.

While it sucks to see a potential Red Faction: Guerilla sequel left in the dust, it appears Embracer has finished with its restructuring, so we'll hopefully have seen the end of these terrible stories.
Written by Tom West
Tom has been playing video games since he was old enough to hold a controller, experimenting with a number of systems until he eventually fell in love with Xbox. With a passion for the platform, he decided to make a career out of it, and now happily spends his days writing about that which he loves. If he’s not hunting for Xbox achievements, you’ll likely find him somewhere in The Elder Scrolls Online or fighting for survival in Battlefield.
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