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According to a report from IGN, EA has canceled its upcoming ‘Black Panther’ video game and shut down Cliffhanger Games, the studio that was developing the title.

This announcement was sent out company-wide in an email along with layoffs in its mobile and central teams. EA declined to comment on exactly how many individuals would be affected by this.

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EA Entertainment president Laura Miele said in an email that this is being done to “sharpen our focus and put our creative energy behind the most significant growth opportunities.”

“These decisions are hard,” Miele said. “They affect people we’ve worked with, learned from, and shared real moments with. We’re doing everything we can to support them — including finding opportunities within EA, where we’ve had success helping people land in new roles.”

Miele’s email went on to state that EA intends to focus on a small group of franchises in the future: Battlefield, The Sims, Skate, and Apex Legends. EA will also continue to work on the upcoming ‘Iron Man’ game as well as the third ‘Star Wars: Jedi’ game.

This comes after CEO Andrew Wilson announced last year that EA will be “moving away from development of future licensed IP that we do not believe will be successful in our changing industry.”

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‘Black Panther’ was part of a deal between Marvel and EA that would include three games: ‘Black Panther,’ ‘Iron Man,’ and a third title that has yet to be announced.

Cliffhanger Games was announced to be working on ‘Black Panther’ on July 10, 2023, and led by Kevin Stephens of Monolith Productions.

“We’re dedicated to delivering fans a definitive and authentic Black Panther experience, giving them more agency and control over their narrative than they have ever experienced in a story-driven video game,” Stephens said.

“Wakanda is a rich Super Hero sandbox, and our mission is to develop an epic world for players who love Black Panther and want to explore the world of Wakanda as much as we do.”

Fortunately, Black Panther will still have a video game presence in the future since he is an integral character in the upcoming ‘Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra’ from Skydance New Media.

Set to release in 2026, ‘Marvel 1943’ is inspired by the ‘Captain America/Black Panther: Flags of Our Fathers’ Marvel Comics limited series following an alliance between the two heroes as they try to prevent the rise of the terrorist organization Hydra.

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