Revealed in 2014 at Gamescom, Wild (stylized WiLD) was a survival game by Wild Sheep Studio exclusively for PS4. However, rumors started swirling in 2021 that the game was canceled. Those rumors seem to be true as the game’s original director Michel Ancel claims Ubisoft‘s mismanagement is the blame for its demise.

Wild director Michel Ancel claims Ubisoft’s handling of the PS4 exclusive was ‘a real scandal.’
In an interview with Superpouvior, Ancel recalls Wild’s production woes while he was still there at Wild Sheep Studio. It seems as Sony switched up its management in 2018, game development ceased. However, when Ubisoft Paris eventually took over is when the problems began to get more hairy as Tommy François, who was then in charge of the game, faced sexual harassment allegations, and inevitably left the company.

“Wild had an unfortunate fate,” Ancel recalled. “In 2018, we had a very nice playable version, but we took a long time to upgrade the game to PS5, which slowed down production. On Sony’s side, there were major management changes and the game was stopped.”

“Ubisoft offered to take it over, and shortly afterwards Sony decided to get it back, even offering to double our budgets,” said Ancel. “Unfortunately, contracts with Ubisoft were well advanced and we turned down Sony’s offer. What a shame.”

“It was during this period that I burned out and, unfortunately, the game fell into the hands of Ubisoft’s editorial department in Paris, which was itself in chaos,” Ancel said referring to François.

In 2020, Ancel left Wild Sheep Studio. The former director says his departure was due to burnout. As there was no longer anyone to “defend” the game, he blames Ubisoft mismanagement for Wild’s downfall.

“I was no longer there to defend the game, which was literally crushed by people in this department who were asking for all sorts of changes without actually playing the game,” said Ancel. “A real scandal. After two years of wandering, the game was abandoned on the pretext that it no longer corresponded to the initial game.”

Posted: 3 hours, 20 minutes ago
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Source: https://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2024/12/09/ps4-exclusive-wild-cancellation-blamed-on-ubisoft-mismanagement/