Those that have been paying close to attention to the video game industry over the past couple of weeks will no doubt be familiar with the closure of Big Huge Games. The developer behind the likeable Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning was forced to shut down last week following the emerging financial troubles of its parent company 38 Studios.
News has since emerged that Big Huge Games had started pre-production on a sequel to the action RPG. The title was supposedly being shopped around to publishers after EA, who published the first title, decided to pass on the sequel due to “executive politics”.
The developer was supposedly hoping to improve on the sequel’s visuals, decrease loading times and expand combat animations. All considerations were conceived in direct response to feedback from the original game.
Unfortunately, the title is unlikely to ever see the light of day. Should Big Huge Games reform under a different banner, it would still not have access to the Amalur brand. Its best hope would be to create a different property with a similar feel — a move that, while not impossible, is unlikely to ever get off the ground.
[source joystiq.com]
Comments 4
Terrible shame. KoA was a pretty brilliant game for a brand new RPG IP. The worst part is the franchise has such amazing potential, with the combat and leveling systems being highlights. Bring the rest of the game up to their level, and a sequel could have been amazing.
@ShogunRok - Agreed.
It seems when it comes to KOA you loved it or hated, I fall under the loved it category.
I would think that even the people that didn't like it could see the untapped potential there. It's such a shame.
I only played a few hours of it, so I know I am not the best judge. From what I saw the combat mechanic was brilliant and varied and the games true strength. Can't really comment on the leveling. I know many people who loved it.
My biggest beef with the game was the graphics, which apparently was echoed by others. It not even that they're bad, more that they're inconsistent. It's like the designers couldn't decide if they were trying to be realistic (and scary) or fantastical (and childish), regularly jumping between the two. The colours were also way to bright for me.It made it hard for me to become immersed.
I'm sure there was enough good in there, that if I played it through I would get past the graphics and really enjoy it. Unfortunately, I have limited time/funds to play games and it didn't quite make the cut for me. My next venture down the RPG route will be Dragon's Dogma.
This is my long rambling way of saying that I agree with Splat. Loads of potential, and if they do get the opportunity to do a sequel (or even another game) it could be awesome.
Its really a shame when a company makes a brilliant game like KoA goes under and by something that isn't even their fault. Hopefully either Curt Schilling can bounce back from this and form another company to carry on his dream of KoA or another company can pick up the IP and can keep it going.
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