Xbox is said to have secured a deal with Panache Digital, the studio from the mastermind behind Assassin’s Creed and Prince of Persia: Sands of Time.
That’s what reputable leaker ‘eXtas1s’ writes on the eXputer forums. According to the leaker, outlet eXputer has seen “graphical evidence” that Xbox has signed an agreement with Montreal-based Panache Digital Games and its founder Patrice Désilets for a new project. Additional details about this project haven’t been shared, but ‘eXtas1s’ does mention that the project will run in Unreal Engine 5, and going by an insider source from the leaker, the project is targeting a 2026 or 2027 release. Of course, release windows are, more than ever, subject to change.
Founded in 2014, Panache Digital Games released Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey in 2019. Be sure to read our 2019 interview with Désilets about the third-person survival game. In 2019, we also published an interview with the talented designer about his plans for ‘1666 Amsterdam’. Whether the new Xbox project is related to this project from Désilets is unknown at this point. We’ve included a part of that interview below:
During your talk you briefly mentioned still wanting to make 1666 Amsterdam. To clarify, is that something you’re actively moving forward on now?
I dunno…I’ve been talking about [1666 Amsterdam] since I got the rights back to it. Yeah, I want to make that game. The chances that it’s my next one are really, really high. In my head, I started it. I went back to what I designed in 2011 and 2012 and said, what do I want to do? Now it’s the game after Ancestors and not Assassin’s Creed II. I’m a different person and designer and have a new team, so it’s going to change.
Ancestors is going to be how Panache does games in the future. That’s our signature. So…1666 will not be an easy game. Eventually I’ll announce it for real. The elevator pitch is really simple — do you want to play the devil in 1666 Amsterdam by the guy who did Assassin’s Creed and Ancestors?
We’ll update you as soon as we learn more about this rumored Xbox deal with Panache.
