Square Enix cancels Project Prelude Rune, dissolves Studio Istolia
Yesterday was a rather odd evening for Square Enix, who had just publically revealed their fiscal year data. The moment their earnings report went live, all social media accounts, websites, and videos relating to Square's spinoff studio, Studio Istolia, had disappeared. This left the fate of the company's upcoming title, Project Prelude Rune, up in the air, as things looked bleak. The game was announced in early 2017, and was a high-budget AAA JRPG that was being led by Tales series producer Hideo Baba. A year and a half later, we received a very short teaser trailer, being the first look at gameplay and minor details about the game, outside of magazine screenshots and concept art. In March 2019, six months after no news, Hideo Baba had announced that he would be leaving Studio Istolia, putting the development of Project Prelude Rune into question. That brings us to today, where Square Enix revealed that the disappearance of any and all information relating to Studio Istolia and Project Prelude Rune was because the game had been canceled, and the studio behind it would be disbanded.
Thankfully, the team that was working on the project will not lose their jobs, and will instead be redistributed to various other Square Enix development studios.
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