Insider Gaming Exclusive: Unannounced Blade Runner Game Canceled At Supermassive Games

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Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?


An unannounced Blade Runner game that had been in development at Supermassive Games has been canceled.

Insider Gaming has learned that Blade Runner: Time To Live was a "character focused, cinematic, action adventure" game where you are the only Blade Runner in 2065. The game would feature a 10-12 hour single player story that, per documents sent to Insider Gaming under the condition they not be made public, involved a "compelling story blending the philosophical themes of Blade Runner with kinetic action-adventure gameplay".

The game began pre-production in September 2024 with the core team comprised of those who worked on The Quarry. Pre-production was scheduled to end in March 2025 with the end of prototyping by September 2025.

A full release was planned for September 2027 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and the "Gen 10" Xbox and PlayStation systems. It was set to have a full development budget of roughly $45 million(M) with $9M of it being used for external performance capture and acting talent. What wasn't included in the budget, however, was original music production, image rights and usage fees for performers, QA and game testing, localization, and any future DLC.

As with any budget, the amount was subject to change as development got underway and costs rose or fell.
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What Was Blade Runner: Time to Live?


A third-person action adventure game, Blade Runner: Time To Live would see players play as So-Lange, a vintage model Nexus-6 "inexplicably still alive well beyond your limited lifespan."

"Journey from the teeming undercity of New Zurich 2065 to the eerie remnants of the forgotten world beyond," the description from the documents. "Under orders to retire Rev, the mysterious and ruthless leader of an underground replicant network, you are betrayed and left for dead in a brutally hostile environment."

The game was set to be broken up with four gameplay pillars including stealth, combat, exploration and investigation, and dramatic character interaction. The plan was also to include what Supermassive called "authentic, punchy, and poignant" dialogue within its cast.
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Looking at the gameplay plans specifically, Blade Runner: Time to Live was set to feature various gameplay "themes" like upgrading your skills and abilities, using past memories to figure out the story, in-game technology to complete your investigations, and more. It's worth noting that some of the various elements likely were changed through the development.

Said one source who was close to the game's development, it was "rather impressive".

As far as a reason for the game's cancellation, it was said that Blade Runner rights owner Alcon Entertainment is to blame. Specific details on what Alcon may have done aren't published to protect the sources of the information. It's understood that the game was cancelled late last year.

Insider Gaming did contact both Supermassive Games and Alcon Entertainment for more information on this canceled Blade Runner game.

Supermassive Games said they were "unable to comment on this" while Alcon Entertainment has yet to respond. Should that response come, it will be added to this story.
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Damn, that's a shame. One of my favorite IPs paired with one of my favorite developers.

If anyone could have done a fun homage to the original, theatrical, voice-over cut of Blade Runner, it would've been Super Massive.

Fuck I'm picturing their Transistor style take on rainy cyberpunk LA right now and it's breaking my heart.





Uh, nevermind. I just realized I was thinking of Supergiant Games. I'm glad Blade Runner wasn't wasted on these dudes. They're fine, but their wheelhouse is B-movie horror shlock
 
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Sounds like it could be fantastic, but I am not sure if Supermassive is a studio to pull something like that off. Does not seem like they have a lot of experience with gameplay driven games, and even their interactive movies are hit and miss (I liked Until Dawn, Quarry was ok, liked two of their episodic games and disliked the other two). Not surprising that Alcon killed it but I would like to see such a game, by studio like Eidos Montreal or CDPR (of course, they would never do it when they have much bigger Cyberpunk IP of their own).
 
I'm kind of sure that we knew about some Blade Runner game being in development, but not that Supermassive was making it? That or I'm just confused as a whole.
E8ther way, sad news.
 
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Cyberpunk genre games been taking Ls recently, getting cancelled before they're announced. Rip Deus Ex too.

Sad to hear.
 
Love Blade Runner but this is probably for the better.
Supermassive sucks. The one thing they are supposed to specialize in are these horror interactive "movies", and they can't even get those right most of the time. I have zero hope they'd have done Blade Runner justice.
 
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Not a fan at all of Supermassive and Blade Runner is one of my all time favorites. Glad they didn't get the chance to officially fuck it up or taint it in any way.

If you want a damn close to Blade Runner experience check out Nobody Wants To Die.
 
Grizzled Ghost said:
Damn, that's a shame. One of my favorite IPs paired with one of my favorite developers.

If anyone could have done a fun homage to the original, theatrical, voice-over cut of Blade Runner, it would've been Super Massive.

Fuck I'm picturing their Transistor style take on rainy cyberpunk LA right now and it's breaking my heart.





Uh, nevermind. I just realized I was thinking of Supergiant Games. I'm glad Blade Runner wasn't wasted on these dudes. They're fine, but their wheelhouse is B-movie horror shlock
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I made the same mistake. I thought this was Supergiant too and got a bit sad about it as the studio is excellent. Supermassive… eh.
 
Protag would have been a female girl boss replicant with their holographic AI companion being a sub dude, or a non-binary can't tell which it is.
 
Westwood's Blade Runner game is okay.

It's one of those cases that is very influential but may never get a licensed game done properly.
 
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Hmmm it didn't even make it to the end of prototyping, so essentially the pitch didn't get picked up... whoopty doo.
That's not a cancelled game.
 
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