Alien RPG - Indefinitely Suspended says Gamespot

Dhruin

Dhruin

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Citing unknown "sources", GameSpot says Alien RPG has been "indefinitely suspended", not canceled - although one suspects the distinction is academic, if true:
Despite rumors of an outright cancellation, the Aliens RPG remains officially on the books--for now. When asked to confirm reports that the game had been shut down, Obsidian reps directed all inquiries to Sega, which offered a less-than-comforting comment.
"We will have more news to share about our Aliens franchise games in the near future," said the rep. "Sega does not comment on rumors or speculation about its products... Please stay tuned for future correspondence regarding our products."
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While we wait for that "near future", Wired reports Sega will reduce their R&D and development expenditure by 20% in the face of a $238M loss by canceling and consolidating title.
More information.
 
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That's bad news! Since more and more such rumors appear, it's probably accurate, which is very unfortunate, as I was really looking forward to finally getting an RPG in the Aliens setting.
 
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Same here. Too bad. I sooo much wanted to play a facehugger (if that were possible).
 
Yep - this is all just part of a larger consolidation in the face of 'games are not free from recessionimpact'.
 
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Unfortunately, this is probably just the tip of the ice berg.
 
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Maylander said:
Unfortunately, this is probably just the tip of the ice berg.
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The problem with the gaming industry model, and I've been saying this for a year now, is that it's actually less recession-proof than other entertainment industries. As a rule, entertainment industries are somewhat recession-proof just because of the nature of escapism.

But the gaming industry is set up on a low-margin high-stakes game that requires large year-over-year growth. Now that the industry is shrinking (and it is: NPD numbers reveal a 13% growth, but almost all of that is taken up by Nintendo, the rest is shrinking), none of the companies (except Nintendo and Activision-Blizzard) have any margins to take any punches. Hence the panicked slashing left and right.

Folly in retrospect, but let us hope they learned something.
 
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I don't know why anyone would think any business involving large sums of money would be recession proof.

Maybe I'm missing something about the basics of economy, but if people have less money - they'll spend less, which is true for both consumers and investors.

I could be wrong, though.
 
There is still money, and it has to go somewhere. Traditionally, the first expenditures to go are holiday bookings and cars, which is why those industries are the first to be hit. The last expenditures to go (other than food and legally obliged debt/tax payments) tend to be...well...alcohol, to be honest. It's escapism, and gaming is right there near alcohol just like films and music.

Look at it this way, people have little money to spend, so they cut major costs. They then have more money to spend than they did before, and they'll tend to spend it (assuming they don't need it for basic sustenance) on high-return (so not one-time spendings like restaurants or theaters) means of escapism.

It's helped gaming through earlier, smaller dips. But once it goes wrong, it really goes wrong. Arrogance come back to bite 'em in the ass.
 
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GhanBuriGhan said:
How could that be changed? Ideas?
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I think I had some ideas in a recent thread - but I guess not many think of them as real options.

Probably requires an overall change of human nature.

Let's start with eliminating the concept of money.
 
Could you leave that discussion in the other thread, guys?
 
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And possibly writing from some of the finest writers in the gaming industry. Sigh, I still have a small hope we might see this game some day.
 
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DArtagnan said:
Think of the best parts of Buck Rogers and Mass Effect - and then add a strong element of horror.
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Sounds to me as if it could be kind of a "System Shock" only with other enemies ...
 
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Alrik Fassbauer said:
Sounds to me as if it could be kind of a "System Shock" only with other enemies ...
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System Shock was an action adventure with light RPG elements.

Buck Rogers was part of the Goldbox games from SSI - which were pretty hardcore RPGs, with highly tactical turn-based combat.

Anyway, I wouldn't mind an Aliens Shock either :)
 
Rumars from Obsidian's board:

Sega put Alien on hold so that Obsidian can work double time on getting Alpha Protocol finished (also published by Sega), and thus some money in Sega's coffers. They had to let some folks go for now, but the Alien RPG will resume production after AP ships. Alpha Protocol has slipped a couple of times, and some estimates were putting its release around September, from the planned February.
 
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That actually makes some sort of sense, from a purely business PoV!!
 
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