With the recent rumoured cancellation of EA’s Black Panther, along with the closure of developer Cliffhanger Games, various employees who worked on the title have been talking about it on social media. Some of them, including concept artist Karla Ortiz, wrote about being sad that the world wouldn’t get to see it, and praised the team she worked with.
“I was a part of this incredible crew,” wrote Ortiz in a post on BlueSky. “We were working on such an amazing and stunning game. Detailed, rich, beautiful. It breaks my heart the world won’t see it. It also breaks my heart to say goodbye to the team. What an honor to work with you all. What a sad day.”
Game designer Sophie Mallinson also wrote about having worked on the title, referring to the development team – which were laid off as part of the studio closure – as a dream team. Mallinson described it as an action RPG, and revealed that it was being being worked on by the creators of the Nemesis system from Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, and its sequel, Middle-earth: Shadow of War.
“This is a dream team and you should snap up anyone who was working on this project,” wrote Mallinson. “So sad that we might not ever get to see a Black Panther ARPG developed by the creators of the Nemesis System!!”
Freddie Lee – the senior environment architect – thanked the team he had worked with before the game’s cancellation. In his BlueSky post, Lee wrote about being inspired by the works of Ortiz.
“Welp this happened today,” wrote Lee. “It has to be said that during my short time there, I’ve had the honor and pleasure to work with people like Karla who’s art inspired myself and the team, and also instilling confidence and growth into my professional artwork. This team was, and is GOAT.”
Former systems design director at Respawn Entertainment, Rayme Vinson, revealed in his own post that he had gotten to see the Black Panther title in action. Vinson wrote about getting to see the title and interact with the development team in light of the cancellation of a shooter based on the Star Wars franchise, describing the Black Panther game as “ambitious and special.”
“When they shut down the Star Wars FPS, we got to see this game up close and talk to their dev team, because they could take on some of our folks,” wrote Vinson. “What they were building was ambitious and special and I was legitimately excited to play it someday, even if they’d only done 1/4 of what they planned.”
EA revealed that it was cancelling the Black Panther game and shutting down Cliffhanger Games through an email that was spotted earlier today. “These decisions are hard,” wrote EA Entertainment president Laura Miele in the email. “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.”
https://bsky.app/profile/kortizart.bsky.social/post/3lqawcpmp222v
https://bsky.app/profile/sophmallinson.bsky.social/post/3lqavusellk2g
https://bsky.app/profile/stringerseven.bsky.social/post/3lqbar2qlgk2m
When they shut down the Star Wars FPS, we got to see this game up close and talk to their dev team, because they could take on some of our folks. What they were building was ambitious and special and I was legitimately excited to play it someday, even if they'd only done 1/4 of what they planned.
