Magmaniac
06-15-2004, 11:38 PM
sorry for those who have been waiting for it, its done for.
From the July 2004 edition of Computer Games magazine:
Half Life 2 has been cancelled indefinitely. After all the associated hype, tech demos, thievery, treachery, and skullduggery, 2003's Most Promising Lip-Sync Award, and a long period of huge anticipation, this high-profile title has, sadly, gone the way of many of its contemporaries-that is to say, down the toilet.
When companies announce or comment on the demise of a project, their statements often mirror those given upon the departure of an employee. If the company and the employee part on good terms, they say, "Eric Wastefield Pomegranate is leaving Coolest Games Ever Studios to pursue other opportunities," rather than parting on bad terms where they say, "That bastard Pomegranate, may his soul rot in hell, sat on his butt and robbed us blind, so we canned his sorry ass." Or the employee will say "Coolest Games Ever has been a real steppingstone in my career, but I've decided that it's best that I depart at this point to pursue other opportunities," instead of "Coolest Games Never is a boatload of addlepated twits who wouldn't know a good game if it bit 'em in the...."
Prior to the Half-Life 2 fiasco, the game cancellation that hit me the hardest was that of Microsoft's Train Simulator 2.0, not because I was looking forward to it any more than I'm looking forward to my next oil change and tire rotationbut because it was sort of the last drip that made my bucket of "What-A-Shame" overflow. A Microsoft Spokesperson said, "The decision to cancel Train Simulator 2.0 was made some time ago and was based on a long, hard and difficult look at our business objectives and product offerings." Translation: "The game is not going to rake in enough cash."
When the new Sam & Max game ws cancelled, LucasArts said, "After careful evaluation of current market place realities and underlying economic considerations, we've decided that this was not the appropriate time to launch a graphic adventure on the PC." Translation: The game is not going to rake in enough cash." Of its decision to cancel Mythica, Microsoft said, "After a rigorous review of current and future projects, the decision was made that Mythica would not be one of the projects we would continue to invest in." Translation: The game is not going to..." You get the picture.
Of course their are other reasons that ultimately translate into the 'enough cash' problem. When Full Throttle: Hell on Wheels was cancelled, LucasArts said, "We do not want to disappoint the many fans of Full Throttle, and hope everyone can understand how committed we are to delivering the best-quality gaming experience that we possibly can." Translation: "This game is going to suck." Going back a bit further, Origin said, "The reason [for its cancellation] is simple, rather than creating Ultima Worlds Online: ORIGIN as a parallel world competing with Ultima Online, we've decided to put those resources into growing and improving the core offering for Ultima Online's 230,000 loyal subscribers." Translation: "A cash cow in the hand..."
Other times, there's been a bit of welcome candor. Scott McDaniel, then vice president of marketing and public relations for Sony Online Entertainment said of Sovereign, "We came to a decision that it was not going to be what we wanted it to be. It never really had the magic." In reference to Uru Live, a message from Rand Miller and Cyan Worlds read, "Even with all of the time, money, resources, code, people, sweat, and heart that were poured into Uru Live, we needed a certain number of subscribers to pay the bills. We didn't get there." Kudos to these folks and their honesty.
Although speculation runs wild, we are not privy to all of the information. Perhaps the games were wildly overbudget, suffered huge delays, or had ambitious designs with unrealizable visions. Perhaps it was the time-honered dilemma of "creative differences." In any case, game development is a business like any other, and when the profit forecast looks dim, the cradle will fall, and with it fall the spirits of the real people who have devoted, sometimes, up to three or four years of their lives to a particular project. Even though it's understandable that Bottom Line is King, developers in the industry are also, many of them, sensetive artists, and ouch... that's really gonna hurt.
Thinking that "it's really better this way" must be tough, but when in doubt, they should remember things like Diekatana, and shudder at the potential pain of the Duke Nukem Forever team. It gives a little bit of perspective, I think.
Oh, and you immediately realized that I was only kidding about Half-Life 2, right?
read that last line again in case you just skimmed it
jk!
lol it got me too for a while
From the July 2004 edition of Computer Games magazine:
Half Life 2 has been cancelled indefinitely. After all the associated hype, tech demos, thievery, treachery, and skullduggery, 2003's Most Promising Lip-Sync Award, and a long period of huge anticipation, this high-profile title has, sadly, gone the way of many of its contemporaries-that is to say, down the toilet.
When companies announce or comment on the demise of a project, their statements often mirror those given upon the departure of an employee. If the company and the employee part on good terms, they say, "Eric Wastefield Pomegranate is leaving Coolest Games Ever Studios to pursue other opportunities," rather than parting on bad terms where they say, "That bastard Pomegranate, may his soul rot in hell, sat on his butt and robbed us blind, so we canned his sorry ass." Or the employee will say "Coolest Games Ever has been a real steppingstone in my career, but I've decided that it's best that I depart at this point to pursue other opportunities," instead of "Coolest Games Never is a boatload of addlepated twits who wouldn't know a good game if it bit 'em in the...."
Prior to the Half-Life 2 fiasco, the game cancellation that hit me the hardest was that of Microsoft's Train Simulator 2.0, not because I was looking forward to it any more than I'm looking forward to my next oil change and tire rotationbut because it was sort of the last drip that made my bucket of "What-A-Shame" overflow. A Microsoft Spokesperson said, "The decision to cancel Train Simulator 2.0 was made some time ago and was based on a long, hard and difficult look at our business objectives and product offerings." Translation: "The game is not going to rake in enough cash."
When the new Sam & Max game ws cancelled, LucasArts said, "After careful evaluation of current market place realities and underlying economic considerations, we've decided that this was not the appropriate time to launch a graphic adventure on the PC." Translation: The game is not going to rake in enough cash." Of its decision to cancel Mythica, Microsoft said, "After a rigorous review of current and future projects, the decision was made that Mythica would not be one of the projects we would continue to invest in." Translation: The game is not going to..." You get the picture.
Of course their are other reasons that ultimately translate into the 'enough cash' problem. When Full Throttle: Hell on Wheels was cancelled, LucasArts said, "We do not want to disappoint the many fans of Full Throttle, and hope everyone can understand how committed we are to delivering the best-quality gaming experience that we possibly can." Translation: "This game is going to suck." Going back a bit further, Origin said, "The reason [for its cancellation] is simple, rather than creating Ultima Worlds Online: ORIGIN as a parallel world competing with Ultima Online, we've decided to put those resources into growing and improving the core offering for Ultima Online's 230,000 loyal subscribers." Translation: "A cash cow in the hand..."
Other times, there's been a bit of welcome candor. Scott McDaniel, then vice president of marketing and public relations for Sony Online Entertainment said of Sovereign, "We came to a decision that it was not going to be what we wanted it to be. It never really had the magic." In reference to Uru Live, a message from Rand Miller and Cyan Worlds read, "Even with all of the time, money, resources, code, people, sweat, and heart that were poured into Uru Live, we needed a certain number of subscribers to pay the bills. We didn't get there." Kudos to these folks and their honesty.
Although speculation runs wild, we are not privy to all of the information. Perhaps the games were wildly overbudget, suffered huge delays, or had ambitious designs with unrealizable visions. Perhaps it was the time-honered dilemma of "creative differences." In any case, game development is a business like any other, and when the profit forecast looks dim, the cradle will fall, and with it fall the spirits of the real people who have devoted, sometimes, up to three or four years of their lives to a particular project. Even though it's understandable that Bottom Line is King, developers in the industry are also, many of them, sensetive artists, and ouch... that's really gonna hurt.
Thinking that "it's really better this way" must be tough, but when in doubt, they should remember things like Diekatana, and shudder at the potential pain of the Duke Nukem Forever team. It gives a little bit of perspective, I think.
Oh, and you immediately realized that I was only kidding about Half-Life 2, right?
read that last line again in case you just skimmed it
jk!
lol it got me too for a while