Xbox Officially Cancels Major First-Party Game - MCE Notices | California State Portal

Xbox has officially canceled a major and highly anticipated first-party game, to the likely displeasure of many fans who were waiting for it. There are tons of big first-party games in Microsoft’s roster for the future. Forza Horizon 6 was released in May to critical acclaim, and despite its delay, Fable is also hyping up players for what will be a new epic adventure in the franchise. Other games lined up for release are Gears of War: E-Day, Clockwork Revolution, and State of Decay 3.

However, one of the first-party titles that was anticipated has been officially canceled, with no prospect of it being picked up and continued. As was reported by Pure Xbox, the head of Ninja Theory Studio, Dom Matthews, has confirmed that one of the new projects in the studio’s pipeline was left behind. There hadn’t been any updates on the game since its initial teaser announcement, but now it’s confirmed that the project won’t see the light of day.

In the interview, Matthews confirms that Project Mara has been canceled, as was rumored months ago. The rumors mentioned the possibility of the game being shelved, but the information now comes from the head of the studio that was supposed to develop it. Matthews says that “I took the decision to not work on that any further.” He also mentions that the decision was taken to invest further in the Senua franchise.

“These decisions are never easy, but I did so to take the opportunity to have all of the talent and expertise in the studio, all 85 creatives, working together to realize the potential of what Senua can be.” Project Mara was a photorealistic horror game, built to portray the “horrors of the mind.” Eerie, realistic environments were going to play a huge part in how the horror crawled under the player’s skin, but now we know that it is only a distant dream.

Senua carries a sword and an axe, and is flanked by golden lines.

Nevertheless, Ninja Theory will be pouring its efforts into expanding its successful IP with the release of Senua in 2027. The new game in the series was one of the many announcements in the Xbox Games Showcase 2026, during this year’s Summer Game Fest. Expanding on the narrative tools from the first two games, Senua will have a bigger focus on action gameplay this time around, circumventing the often-criticized simplicity of the previous entries.

For now, all we know is that Senua arrives next year, and it may be Ninja Theory’s biggest and most ambitious project to date. It’s a pity that Project Mara got canceled, as it was a promising new take on horror with its photorealistic graphics. This certainly thins out Xbox’s first-party release calendar, but it does open space for what could be another remarkable game.