Souls-inspired games are increasingly common nowadays, but that didn’t stop PlayStation 5 exclusive Ballad of Antara from leaving gamers impressed when it was revealed during a May 2024 State of Play. However, despite this fairly recent reveal — and an even more recent gameplay demo in September of that year — the PS5 game has supposedly been canceled.
The first rumblings of Ballad of Antara being canceled came via the GamingLeaksAndRumors subreddit, with a user named MrEpicFerret noticing that a concept artist for the game was sharing some of their art online and mentioned that the game it was meant for had since been canceled. While the Tweet in question has since been deleted, evidence of its existence has been captured by PlayStation LifeStyle, with a series of social media posts from a Chinese insider named @ignusthewise also highlighted. While these comments went under the radar when they were posted back in September 2025, they shed light on what potentially happened to the intriguing soulslite.
Per @ignusthewise and reported via PlayStation Lifestyle, Paper Games, the company who owns Ballad of Antara developer TipsWorks, had a major restructuring in January of last year. This saw TipsWorks’ team cut from 120 people to just 20, with the game seemingly being too much of an undertaking for a team of that size to see it through to completion. While there has been no official announcement of this promising PS5 exclusive being scrapped, there has been radio silence on the game since late 2024. And with 2025 originally meant to be its release year, there’s good reason to believe that these rumors are true and that the game may never see the light of day.
It’s worth noting that Lingchang2000, the Ballad of Antara artist in question, deleted their post about the game being canceled and created a new account. Perhaps there is hope, then, that development has simply paused instead.
Ballad of Antara Being Scrapped Would Be a Serious Case of Wasted Potential
Ballad of Antara being canceled would be a genuine shame. Sure, the 14-minute gameplay demo had flaws — basic enemies had absurd amounts of health and looked far too spongey — but there was also plenty to be impressed by. The elements of Chinese culture and flashy boss battles beared a heavy resemblance to Black Myth: Wukong, while the environments themselves were particularly eye-catching. The enemy designs also shined, such as the massive, disturbing bird creature that Linchang2000 has highlighted in a different social media post. Had enemy health been addressed, combat would have looked more appealing, while the impressive graphics, charming companion character that rides a giant cat, and intriguing world could have shined. Now, though, players may never get to experience the game.
Ballad of Antara was clearly quite deep into development, so it’s somewhat surprising to hear that it may be shelved. Still, it’s not unheard of; PlatinumGames’ infamous Xbox exclusive Scalebound comes to mind. More recently, Sony has left numerous live-service titles on the cutting room floor. A God of War multiplayer project, a Marvel’s Spider-Man multiplayer project, and the deep-in-development Last of Us Online are all prominent examples of an abandoned live-service era that never had a proper chance to succeed. Perhaps Deviation Games is the best comparison to make, as its game was also canceled despite backing from PlayStation and millions of dollars having been spent on its creation.
For now, all those who were interested in Ballad of Antara can do is hope that these rumors prove false. Until there’s an official announcement from TipsWorks or its publisher Infold Games (the company behind free-to-play game Infinity Nikki), there’s still a bit of hope that the game could make a comeback one day — though it does, sadly, look unlikely.
