With thousands of years of literature, poetry, paintings, and plays all boasting humanity’s byline, you could argue that it’s impossible to come up with a truly original idea at this point in time. Sony Santa Monica may be ruing that fact right now, as speculation suggests that Activision’s upcoming first-person blockbuster Destiny may partly be to blame for the cancellation of its rumoured sci-fi epic.
Eager readers will recall mass redundancies being announced at the first-party developer earlier this week, with God of War III director Stig Asmussen’s new PlayStation 4 property reportedly scrapped in the process. With the title supposedly gearing up for an E3 reveal, many have pondered exactly what went wrong with the release – and a new article may have shed some light on that.
According to Australian publication Rocket Chainsaw, the game went under significant changes when Bungie’s abovementioned multiformat affair was revealed, presumably due to similarities to the Halo developer’s game. This move apparently signalled the start of a troubled production period, with the end result being the title’s demise earlier this week.
Of course, one could hypothesise that the Japanese giant may not want another game similar to Destiny in its portfolio. Despite appearing on multiple systems, the shooter is being heavily marketed as a tentpole PS4 title, with Sony showcasing the release at every opportunity possible. A comparable product – especially with a big budget behind it – may not be considered the best use of resources.
However, as already expected, it does mean that Sony Santa Monica’s future seems to rest once again at the feet of Kratos and God of War. Any remaining employees were supposedly switched to Cory Barlog’s upcoming series refresh, which is set to launch on the manufacturer’s new system at some point in the future. This is a move that apparently has left some remaining staff members a little disgruntled.
While you should take all of this with a hearty helping of salt for now, it certainly seems believable, and jives with rumours that we’ve reported on in the past. Assuming that it all turns out to be true, what do you make of this latest turn of events? Should the platform holder have invested more into the sci-fi property, or has it made the right call? Blast off in the comments section below.
[source rocketchainsaw.com.au]
Comments 10
The games assets are reportedly being preserved, so Sony might just be putting it off for a while. If Cory and his team want to make a game, then they need to do a Kinetica sequel for the PS4 & Vita or an original Vita game.
I have a feeling that the "inFamous looks like Prototype" crowd would have had a field day with this, so while it is sad, I'm glad we avoided all that bull - and like I said before, we might still be getting the game in the future.
@BornOfEvil They said the same about Eight Days and The Getaway, though, and those aren't ever coming out. Much as it breaks my heart.
I am quite certain now that if santa monica thought it wasnt even worth revealing this game then it probably was a good idea to cancel. That may sound heartless but its probably better than the embarrasment they would suffer because of the inevitable comparisons made between the two games. I always wonder if the game developer ever realises they have made a bad game.
I really like games about space. So I am sad. But agree about Destiny. I think partly Destiny is a reason. That was my first thought when I read the news.
@BornOfEvil @get2sammyb hopefully with this game being hopefully only 'temporarily shelved' so early into ps4 it has a good chance of being revived. I do so obviously hope so very much love the sci fi.
So many games were postponed or cancelled. Platform holders can't launch consoles without lying =((((
So then what about the creative director of Star Wars 1313 who was just hired recently by sony ? did he get fired too ? I thought he was working on this sci-fi project with Asmussen.
Maybe we shouldn't waste time mourning the loss of games via cancellation. Maybe the games just sucked, and they knew it. I mean, if it was a REALLY GOOD game, they would have kept moving forward with it. But they know when a game just isn't good. Sometimes, you just gotta know when to hold and when to fold, right?
If i was going up against the devs that worked on Halo, i would cancel my game too
Is this the generation that the industry starts asking "do we actually need that game"
It must of big a huge similarity for them to stop the game. I mean look at all the shooters from the last 8 years. there aren't many that have massively unique sell points when all put together but then again that doesn't bother me as long as the game is good.
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