Report: Braben's The Outsider cancelled

Reports are surfacing which indicate that Frontier's ambitious project The Outsider was cancelled yesterday, ending a wait of over five years for the game to surface.

A post on Rock Paper Shotgun broke the news of the project's claimed collapse from an alleged inside source, also revealing that seventeen staff apparently lost their jobs as a result.

David Braben confirmed in a statement to GamesIndustry.biz that "We have had to change priorities because of requirements on other unannounced projects. Some people have been moved, and we are very sad to have made some people redundant."

However, in a later statement to Develop he claimed that "There is still publisher interest in the project, and we haven't cancelled it." The Outsider's current status is thus perhaps unclear.

Further clarification on the project is awaited, but if the cancellation rumour is true it marks the end of a troubled development period for the game, the continued existence and health of which Frontier boss David Braben has defended vociferously in the past.

Initially, after its announcement in 2005, the title was to be self-financed by Frontier, but growing financial responsibility lead to the need for Codemasters to step in as publisher. That association fell through last year, with Codemasters dropping the title.

RPS' source also alleges that a recent attempt at a deal with EA to take on the game had looked to solve the issue, with staff apparently working under the direction of EA for some weeks.

Frontier's most recent game was Kinectimals for the Xbox 360 motion camera, while David Braben is part of a charitable group currently prototyping £10 micro-PC Raspberry Pi.