EXCLUSIVE – Ubisoft’s Project U is Back to The Drawing Board After 5 Years of Development

As a seasoned gamer with over two decades of gaming under my belt, I must say, Ubisoft’s Project U has me scratching my head more than a well-hidden collectible in Assassin’s Creed. Five years in development, back to the drawing board, and still no clear sight of release – it’s like playing that one endless level in Super Mario Bros.

Ubisoft’s Project U returned to the drawing board this year following five years of development.

Initially unveiled as a groundbreaking “session-based cooperative shooter” in September 2022, Project U (internally known as Pathfinder) has remained under wraps since its announcement over two years ago, with no official updates on the game released to the public. This is due to the fact that Project U went back for revisions in Spring 2024, focusing on addressing concerns about the game’s replayability.

For those new to Project U, the concept revolves around an invasion of Earth by machines intent on converting all life into mechanized forms. The game involves ten teams, each consisting of four members, competing against one another in cooperative multiplayer (Player vs Environment) combat. As they advance through the map’s various zones, players may encounter thousands of AI-controlled robots at once, becoming increasingly difficult to overcome. The ultimate goal is to reach the central zone and vanquish the boss.

Despite initially receiving generally positive feedback from players, one fundamental flaw plagued the game from the start: its replayability. Sources say it was a constant issue for the developers and would see the project’s budget balloon due to continuous reworks. Such reworks included adding more variations to the map with biomes and adding new bosses to change its repetitive nature; however, playtests in February 2024 revealed that the game lacked the replayability needed.

In March 2024, Ubisoft Annecy revealed that the development of Project U (previously known as Pathfinder) was being halted immediately. The work on this project is now being passed to other studios for new assignments. Two of the game’s directors, Mathieu Granjon and Damien Kieken, have since departed from the project, with Granjon joining Assassin’s Creed and Kieken transitioning to DICE this month.

Will Project U end up being another decade-long project at Ubisoft? Only time will tell.

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