That vertical slice they prepared and showed the Embracer and Sony executives must have been really terrible.
Out of curiosity I'd like to see this demo, but that is probably never going to happen. On the other hand it feels like axing the project without staining their public image is exactly what should have happened to Sands of Time Remake or even this new Saints Row reboot.
Embracer seems to be a pretty good publisher. They've been investing in good devs that are are responsible for great games (Kingdom Come, Valheim, Metro, Shadow Warrior, Deep Rock Galactic, Tomb Raider, etc.). I'll trust their judgment on this.
Another point I'd like to make is that I don't think this was doomed from the start solely because it was being handled by Aspyr. The games are made by people and we've had news that Aspyr had been in a hiring spree, including a number of industry veterans. We've also seen a number of studios being upgraded to project leaders with very successful results, like Bend with Days Gone and Bluepoint with Demon's Souls remake.
I was a lot more concerned about some statements from their writers claiming they were going to put a modern take and different twist to the story than I ever was of Aspyr leading the project.
