Souls-inspired games are increasingly common these days, but that didn't stop the PlayStation 5 exclusive Ballad of Antara from impressing gamers when it was revealed during a State of Play in May 2024. But despite this fairly recent reveal – and an even more recent gameplay demo in September of that year – the PS5 game has supposedly been cancelled.
The first rumble 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 his art online and mentioning that the game it was meant for had since been canceled. Although 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. Although these comments went under the radar when they were published in September 2025, they shed light on what was potentially happening to the exciting world of souls.
Per @ignusthewise and reported via PlayStation Lifestyle, Paper Games, the company that owns Ballad of Antara developer TipsWorks, had a major restructuring last January. This led to the TipsWorks team shrinking from 120 people to just 20, with the game seemingly too much of a commitment for a team of that size to handle. While there has been no official announcement that this promising PS5 exclusive has been scrapped, there has been radio silence on the game since the end of 2024. And with 2025 originally slated to be its release year, there is good reason to believe that these rumors are true and the game may never see the light of day.
It is worth noting that Lingchang2000, the Ballad of Antara the artist in question, deleted his post about the game being suspended and created a new account. Perhaps there is hope that development has simply stopped instead.
Ballad about Antara being scrapped would be a serious case of wasted potential
Ballad of Antara to be 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 spongy — but there was also plenty to be impressed by. The elements of Chinese culture and flashy boss battles bore a great resemblance Black Myth: Wukongwhile the environments themselves were particularly eye-catching. Enemy designs also shined, like the massive, disruptive bird creature that Linchang2000 has highlighted in another social media post. Had enemy health been addressed, the combat would have looked more appealing, while the impressive graphics, charming companion riding a giant cat, and the exciting world could have shined. Now the players may never get to experience the game.
Ballad of Antara was clearly pretty deep into development, so it's somewhat surprising to hear that it might be shelved. Still, it's not unusual; PlatinumGames' infamous Xbox exclusive Shell bound will think about. Lately, Sony has left many live service titles on the cutting room floor. A God of war multiplayer project, a Marvel's Spider-Man multiplayer project and deep in development Last of us online are all prime examples of an abandoned live service era that never had a real chance to succeed. Perhaps Deviation Games is the best comparison to make, as its games were also canceled despite support from PlayStation and millions of dollars spent on their creation.
For now, anyone who was interested in Ballad of Antara can do is hope these rumors turn out to be false. Until there is an official announcement from TipsWorks or its publisher Infold Games (the company behind free-to-play games Infinity Nikki), there's still some hope that the game could make a comeback one day – although that sadly looks unlikely.
