Gearbox denies Aliens has been canned

Gearbox Software has denied that Aliens: Colonial Marines has been cancelled following reports of trouble at the developer on Friday.

Shacknews and Kotaku, citing multiple sources, both originally reported that the SEGA-published shooter had been ditched late in development and that 15-26 employees had been let go.

However, Gearbox president Randy Pitchford said "Aliens isn't canned" in a comment post on Shacknews, and told both sites that he couldn't wait for "the right moment we can more fully unveil our efforts there".

Pitchford didn't address the issue of layoffs directly, but he acknowledged that the company had been "adjusting our internal strategy to move from being about Opportunity, Ambition and Growth to a strategy that is oriented towards Quality, Focus and Performance" in a statement.

He said there had been "a number of recent tactical decisions" that were "natural manoeuvring that all studios should only consider after they finish a big effort", and that "we are, in fact, currently hiring".

Gearbox recently shipped Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway, which struggled to emulate the critical success of its predecessors Road to Hill 30 and Earned in Blood. The developer is also working on the promising openworld ARPG Borderlands for 2K and other unannounced projects.

SEGA was unavailable to comment on the status of Aliens: Colonial Marines at the time of writing.