PlayStation has reportedly canceled the Breaking Bad VR Game

Liverpool studio Firesprite has struggled since being bought by PlayStation in 2021, with reports suggesting that Crunch was tasked with finishing development on Horizon Call of The Mountain and that live-action game Twisted Metal was canceled due to larger layoffs at Sony.

According to Eurogamer, these issues combined to lead to a mass exodus of talent, including all but one of the studio's co-founders. New management from supporting studio XDev was brought in to get things back on track, but accusations of sexual discrimination and ageism were leveled against them. However, Sony dismissed the claims as a “misunderstanding”.

Now, two years later, a new MP1st investigation has revealed that the Firesprite mess goes back further than previously thought, as two projects – a new sci-fi horror IP and a Breaking Bad VR game – were canceled before the acquisition.

Breaking Bad VR Game was a smaller story “experience”

Concept art for the canceled sci-fi horror game Firesprite.

According to this new report, the Breaking Bad game was in development for PSVR between 2017 and 2018, and is described as a narrative “experience” similar to that VR game Stranger Things. It should feature iconic locations from the show, such as Walter White's backyard and the New Mexico desert, presumably putting us in the fitting Walter whities of the iconic Heisenberg.

Indeed, series creator Vince Gilligan confirmed that he was working with Sony on a Breaking Bad game on the Inside The Gilliverse podcast in 2022, noting that a lot of effort went into development before it was canceled. “Making a video game is damn hard,” he explained. “It takes years and millions of dollars, especially when you're trying to break through with VR.

As for the new sci-fi horror IP, it would be a Dead Space-style body horror, and MP1st has revealed concept art for the game that shows zombified humans growing monstrous, almost polygonal limbs. However, this project never got past the prototype stage and was canceled in 2020.

Despite the alleged toxic work environment, loss of talent and allegations against new management, Firesprite remains focused, with the team reportedly working on two games at the time of writing – Project Pillar and Heartbreak, the latter of which is rumored to be a sequel to Until Dawn.