Hyenas

The project initially bearing the internal codename "Keaton" was started by the "console team" of Creative Assembly in 2017, drawing inspirations from early extraction shooters like Escape from Tarkov but eventually settled on "Payday in space". After a troubled development process involving an engine change from Creative Assembly's in-house engine for Alien: Isolation to Unreal Engine, Project Keaton was announced as HYENAS by a trailer in IGN's Summer of Gaming 2022 event. Accompanying the trailer was an announcement stream soliciting sign-ups for a Closed Alpha. On 2023-08-16, SEGA released a gameplay trailer that also announces a Closed Beta starting on 2023-08-31 and ending on 2023-09-11.

The game puts you in the shoes of antiheroes hijacking spaceships to steal the cultural artifacts being transported from Earth to an elite class who have migrated to Mars but still find nostalgic value in said cultural artifacts. The playable antiheroes - called "Hyenas" - function like heroes in a hero shooter, meaning they each have their own unique kits of abilities and equipment. Your goal in a match is to get past the ship's AI-controlled security forces - by combat or otherwise - to reach the vault, collect the "merch" and make your way out to extract at a "Getaway Zone". Being set in spaceships, the maps have switches to toggle artificial gravity which create zero-g environments should the players choose to. Supposedly, certain parts in the map are reachable only via zero-g. If playing in a PVP match, you are pitched against a player-controlled rival team fighting over the merch on top of the AI-controlled ship security.

Shortly after the end of the Closed Beta, SEGA put out a press release on 2023-09-28 announcing the cancellation of Hyenas "In response to the lower profitability of the European region". Later, in the Q&A section for the Financial Results for Q2 of the Fiscal Year Ending March 31, 2025, SEGA addressed the question regarding the cancellation of Hyenas stating "There were positive comments in the preliminary tests, and we considered launching the game to let the players to decide its fate, however, we faced several challenges, such as it being a new IP, the European studio’s lack of experience in online game development and operation, and a deteriorating cost structure due to inflation."

On 2023-10-03, YouTuber Volound published a video containing statements from Creative Assembly employees that provided a ground floor perspective of the troubled development behind Hyenas.