Last Sentinel Cut and Tencent Loses Hundreds of Millions
It was supposed to be the company's GTA, but it turned out to be a huge flop.
If you remember Last Sentinel, then you have an excellent memory: it was a project that was presented at the Game Awards 2023 with an impressive trailer, and since then, all traces of it have completely vanished. In theory, it was supposed to be an open-world title set in a dystopian cyberpunk Tokyo, but in practice, we will never know what it truly consisted of.
When Icarus Flew Too Close to the Sun
Today we can talk about Last Sentinel again thanks to a report from Bloomberg, but unfortunately, it's not good news. Apparently, the Chinese company Tencent intended to create a sandbox that could rival Grand Theft Auto, featuring a large vertically developed city and a complex, crime-ridden story. The American studio Lightspeed was tasked with this arduous mission.
Lightspeed was making its debut work and could only count on a few hundred employees, whereas creating a title of GTA's caliber requires thousands of professionals and expertise that has few parallels in the industry. Lightspeed worked on the project for six years, and Tencent invested hundreds of millions of dollars, but when it came down to it, in the first months of 2026, a closed-door test left the Chinese company's executives very disappointed.
Lightspeed received an ultimatum: fix things, and do it very quickly. Tencent assigned Todd Papy, a veteran who was supposed to help correct the course, to the studio, and in three months, they managed to improve the situation, but not enough. A new test in July again rejected Last Sentinel, and this was the definitive evaluation: last week, Tencent decided to halt the project.
Last Sentinel Is Not Canceled, At Least Formally
Lightspeed therefore laid off 80 employees, and the others were redirected to different projects. Note, however, that Last Sentinel, at least formally, continues to exist: Tencent insists that it is still in development. The Chinese company's intentions are not clear: it is not understood whether the cancellation will be officially announced later, or if it intends to somehow salvage the game, perhaps by scaling it down. The fact remains that not much will be left of the Last Sentinel we saw in 2023.
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