People Can Fly is the development team best known for Bulletstorm and Outriders, and Microsoft has recruited them for an existing IP named ‘Project Maverick.’
People Can Fly has now officially signed a work-for-hire agreement with Microsoft, which employs them to work on an existing Microsoft IP simply codenamed ‘Project Maverick.’ The studio’s relationship with Microsoft stretches back to 2013 when they developed another Microsoft IP, Gears of War: Judgment, and have subsequently worked on other shooters like Epic Games’ Bulletstorm and Square Enix’s Outriders. The news comes out of the Polish financial site Interia Biznes, where details of the contract were formalized.
The website — loosely translated by Google — lists some pretty juicy details about the contract between People Can Fly and Microsoft, including “The total budget of the Publisher for the production of the Game by the Company amounts to USD $30 – 50 million.” The most significant detail, however, that is obviously left out of the contract revelation is WHICH Microsoft IP People Can Fly is working on. Due to People Can Fly’s previous work, the best bet would be a shooting game of some calibre.
Microsoft has numerous dormant IPs that haven’t seen the light of day for years, such as Crackdown, and because of People Can Fly’s work on the Just Cause franchise, they aren’t strangers to sandbox creation, and this could be a possibility.
It’s also worth mentioning Microsoft renewed the trademarks for Rare’s Viva Piñata and Blast Corps back in 2022, and nothing has been announced on either of those IPs just yet. Speculation can also lead to the entire Gears of War IP being MIA from the latest Xbox Games Showcase, and People Can Fly has worked on the franchise before, so it’s possible Microsoft has given another spin-off similar to Gears of War: Judgment to the studio.
While it is fun to speculate, there has been no formal announcement from People Can Fly or Microsoft yet, so fans should keep expectations tempered until more is revealed regarding the new contract.
