Last Sentinel ‘Most Likely Canceled’ Amid Layoffs and Hundreds of Millions of Dollars Spent

Lightspeed LA and Tencent uncovered Last Sentinel, an ambitious and sumptuous open-world action title akin to Cyberpunk 2077, a couple of years ago. Last year, the team at Lightspeed LA, which features the talents of Troy Baker, unveiled a series of promotional videos, deepening the hype for a game that some have said will challenge the dominance held by Grand Theft Auto.

However, a new report from Bloomberg amid a wave of layoffs at the studio suggests that the game is most likely canceled, and that hundreds of millions of dollars have potentially been wasted trying to bring the title to life.

Has Last Sentinel Been Canceled?

Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier recently published a report talking about the inner workings of Last Sentinel, a developing open-world action title set in a near-future rendition of Tokyo. It’s a dystopian shooter bathed in neon lights and high-octane combat elements, set in a world that’s teetering on the edge of an apocalypse.

The game’s earlier trailers and hype train had me fully excited and invested, but it looks as though I’ve been waiting for something that might never surface.

The latest reports regarding Lightspeed LA’s operations are sour at best. We’re hearing of layoffs that have wiped 80 employees off the board at the firm, along with comments from the studio that the ‘creative and development direction’ of the title will be shifted to accommodate expectations.

While the studio issued a statement highlighting it remains open and continues to build games, some are doubtful that Last Sentinel will ever see the light of day.

On social media, Jason Schreier prefaced his article by saying:

Tencent set out to take on Grand Theft Auto. After six years, hundreds of millions of dollars, and a whole lot of big promises, they “rebooted” (most likely canceled) “Last Sentinel” this week and laid off 80 people.

The article went on to talk about the negative reactions to behind-closed-doors playtests for Last Sentinel, which took place earlier this year. Additionally, it was claimed that Tencent’s Chinese executives were not happy with the game’s progress. Based on comments secured from those close to the title, Schreier wrote:

The extra work helped, but Last Sentinel still didn’t feel like a Rockstar game. It was janky and didn’t hit the quality bar that Tencent might have expected from a project that was pitched as its version of Grand Theft Auto, according to people who worked on it. There was certainly no way it could compete with Grand Theft Auto VI.

Things became more complex further in the report, when it was mentioned that a ‘veteran designer’ at Tencent was introduced to the team with a mission to get the ship back on course. It was stated that on July 28, that designer, along with the founder of Lightspeed LA, Steve Martin, told employees that Tencent was no longer moving forward with the project.

It hasn’t been publicly addressed yet, but the consensus is that Last Sentinel is done, leaving Tencent and Lightspeed LA hundreds of millions of dollars in the hole.

Were you looking forward to Last Sentinel before this news? Let us know your thoughts on the Insider Gaming Discord server.

For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the news about the Stellar Blade AI ‘slop’ music video, and be sure to sign up for our free weekly newsletter