EA Motive's Gaia Canceled After Six Years Of Development - Report

A project codenamed "Gaia" from Star Wars Squadrons developer EA Motve Studios has been canceled after being in development for six years, according to a report by Bloomberg.

Bloogberg cites "people familiar with the matter," who said Electronic Arts stopped development on Gaia before giving it an official title. Our last look at the game was during EA Play in June 2020, where the publisher showcased some footage while calling it a "highly ambitious, innovative new game that puts the power and creativity" in the player's hands.

Bloomberg's report also charts the trajectory of Gaia's development, stating that Gaia was teased in 2015 when former Assassin's Creed 2 and Watch Dogs executive producer Jade Raymond opened the EA studio in Montreal in the same year. Motive went through some changes throughout the years--growing in staff following BioWare Montreal's shuttering in 2017, taking in creative leads from Star Wars Battlefront 2--before Gaia was rebooted in 2018.

Motive Studios will remain intact. In a statement, EA declined to specifically address word of the cancelation. Instead, spokesperson John Reseburg said, "We have a deep and robust pipeline of new content with more than 35 new games in various levels of incubation and development."

The cancelation of Gaia comes not long after EA ceased development on the Anthem overhaul, commonly called Anthem 2.0 or Anthem Next. Electronic Arts also made a major shift to Dragon Age 4's development, letting BioWare cut the game's multiplayer component.