It's no secret that Lords of the Fallen 2 has had a tumultuous development. The sequel to Deck13 and CI Games' Souls-like was first mentioned all the way back in 2015 with an intended 2017 release, though things felt off from the start as Deck13 was not handling the project. The game then floundered in the concept stage for a few years, with publisher CI Games even running into financial trouble and restructuring along the way. That being said, things finally started looking better for Lords of the Fallen 2 as fledgling New York developer Defiant Studios was chosen as the primary developer.

CI Games even seemed very confident in their decision to choose the new studio at the time, with CEO Marek Tymińsk stating that "Defiant is made up of some the industry’s most talented creators, and we are thrilled to have them create the sequel to Lords of the Fallen." Unfortunately, as Eurogamer reports, even these plans have fallen through and Defiant Studios has been dropped as Lords of the Fallen 2's developer. CI Games revealed this in a Polish-only press release that Eurogamer translated:

The termination of the agreement was submitted due to inadequate execution by Defiant [of] a key work stage (milestone no. 11), a so-called vertical slice. The quality of the work was lower than expected by the company, as precisely described in the agreement, despite three calls to improve the quality of this stage of work.

Despite their optimism last June, CI Games obviously believes that Defiant Studios' take on Lords of the Fallen 2 was not adequate when a vertical slice was finally provided following multiple requests for Defiant to improve the game. No developer to supplant Defiant Studios was named by CI Games at this time, so Lords of the Fallen 2 seems to have fallen back into development hell.

Eurogamer also reports that Defiant Studios is unhappy with this decision by CI Games. Founder and Managing Director David Grijns told them that "we categorically disagree with the portrayal of Defiant Studios made by CI Games. The team that was working on CI Games' project was comprised of exceedingly talented developers whose work we fully stand behind." That being said, Grijins said that Defiant Studios "cannot expand further on this matter" right now due to contractual obligations, so what exactly went down between Defiant Studios and CI Games will be shrouded in mystery for the foreseeable future.

If Lords of the Fallen 2 happens to resurface one day with another developer, DualShockers will let you know. In the meantime, Defiant Studios currently doesn't have any announced projects while CI plans to release Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts for PC, PS4, and Xbox One later this year.