PlayStation exclusive survival game, WiLD, is no longer in active development at Wild Sheep Studio, based on the latest information.
Steven ter Heide, creative director at Wild Sheep Studio, took to Twitter/X to respond to a question regarding the current status of PlayStation exclusive survival game, WiLD. In his response, Heide said that WiLD is no longer actively in development.
The project had been in trouble long before director Michael Ancel announced his retirement from the game industry. WiLD began development in 2014. The game was initially planned to feature a large, continent-sized open world, dynamic weather with seasonal changes, online play, and the option to play as various wild creatures, including wolves, sheep, fish, ants, cats, and birds. The player would control a human character and would be able to use smaller animals for spying or larger animals to assist in battles against other humans. By using shamanic powers, the player could “possess” animals, shift to the perspective of the controlled creature and use its specific skills and characteristics.
A gameplay trailer was shown during Gamescom in August, 2014, followed by another trailer and a production film at Paris Games Week in October, 2015. The absence of updates during development led many to speculate that the game had become vaporware. Signs of hope emerged in 2019 when Wild Sheep Studio silently updated the game’s Facebook page with new cover art that was shared with the text “Light or Darkness”.
However, all hope was lost in September, 2020, when Ancel announced his retirement from the game industry. Though, he had claimed that the development of WiLD would continue without him. However, with Heide’s recent statement, we can safely say that WiLD has been shelved for all intents and purposes. It’s likely that Sony Interactive Entertainment ultimately lost interest in supporting its development as a result of the ongoing troubled development.
