Sniper Elite Battle Royale SpinOff Reportedly Canceled After Losing Funding

A Sniper Elite battle-royale spin-off announced just three months ago has reportedly been canceled after losing funding from Chinese gaming giant Tencent.

The news comes via Insider Gaming, which didn't give a concrete reason for why Tencent was backing out of the project but said may be related to the high-profile failure of Sony's live-service FPS Concord. Insider Gaming reports the "higher-ups" at Sniper Elite developer Rebellion implied during meetings with staff that Tencent may have become "skittish" about live-service projects after Concord's disastrous launch: a misfire that ultimately led to its developer, Firewalk Studios, shutting down.

Code-named Project Archipelago but internally referred to as Sniper Island, the battle royale would have had sniper teams of three battling to become the last squad standing as part of what Rebellion labeled as a "new IP." Early alpha playtests for the game happened in August, shortly after the game was announced.