Ubisoft unofficially announced
Pioneer back in 2016 via a mysterious video that was featured in a
Watch_Dogs 2 side mission. According to Kotaku’s reporting,
Pioneer was a real thing and not just a simple Easter Egg, but this sci-fi exploration title was running into serious troubles since that reveal.
Pioneer was supposed to be officially announced in 2017, but that obviously didn’t happen, as the game was being "
retooled." “
When they decided to make the Easter Egg in Watch Dogs 2 they didn’t know it was going to be like this so it’s a bit awkward,” said a person close to the production three years ago. It looks like
Pioneer ultimately didn’t manage to beat the odds and Ubisoft has canceled it.
Assassin's Creed III and
Far Cry 4 Director Alex Hutchinson posted on Twitter a simple "
RIP Pioneer" expression with a sad emoji, indicating that the game is all but officially dead. Considering that Hutchinson's latest game he made at Ubisoft was released in 2014 and he left Ubisoft Montreal in April 2017, there's a chance he was heavily involved in
Pioneer, and maybe even was directing the project.
Hutchinson is currently working on
Journey to the Savage Planet that will be launching this year on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and it may indeed be a smaller-scale spiritual successor to
Pioneer, as both gameplay trailers you can check out down below share some interesting similarities, including the colorful and vibrant worlds, overall vividness and a heavy emphasis on exploration. RIP
Pionner.