Alpha Protocol - Sega Not Interested In A Sequel

Mike Hayes, Sega West president, told CVG in an interview that Sega will not pursue a sequel to Alpha Protocol due to poor sales and reviews.

"Let's speak very commercially; the game hasn't sold what we've expected, therefore we won't be doing a sequel," said Hayes.

"The concept was brilliant, though," he added. "You know this whole thing with Metacritic where you have to be in the high 70s to mid-80s minimum [to have any success] - well, with RPGs you have got to be in the late 80s.

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Bummer. Can't say I expected a sequel, but I was hoping; I really enjoyed this game. Hopefully the good elements (i.e., the rpg/character ones) get carried by Obsidian into their future games.

Originally Posted by moonmonster
Bummer. Can't say I expected a sequel, but I was hoping; I really enjoyed this game. Hopefully the good elements (i.e., the rpg/character ones) get carried by Obsidian into their future games.

Yeah. Because after how this game tanked, sure as hell nobody else is going to try it. I am not sure if I should love them for trying or hate them for failing.

Yet we will quite surely see Mass Effect 14 and Fable 15. Not that this was a great game or that deep of an rpg, but it IMHO was still better and more of an rpg than either of the above (which I am sure will continue to be streamlined for our "rpg" pleasure.)

I don't think anyone didn't see this comming.

Not surprising but still kinda sucks.

The game does have some serious flaws but I enjoyed it as a Stealth/Pistols/Tech character. I sure enjoyed it more than the first Mass Effect (haven't played the 2nd one yet)…and I have no idea why everyone (including me just then) compares it to Mass Effect. Ah well.

Too bad. I wish someone would just make Deep Cover as Looking Glass originally envisioned it. It certainly won't happen in the current environment unless some indie developer gets ambitious, and they'd still go broke even if all ten of us who actually want to play that kind of game paid full price for it.

AP must have tanked terribly if Sega doesn't even try to win time by saying "We'll evaluate this when we have more complete sales numbers, blabla …".

I was never interested in this game. Too much of a shooter for my tastes, and once I heard about the use of save points rather than save anywhere, it was totally crossed off my list. Add in the usual buggy release and who would be surprised that traditional rpg lovers didn't race out to buy this.

Yep, I'm in the similar boat. I want to support Obsidian, but I've no desire for this kind of frustration…

Actually the game isn't really much of a shooter since the shooting part works more like an rpg then a shooter which is why there are so many complaints about it from people expecting the game to be a shooter. I also hate the save points and I hope they patch that out of the game since I consider it such a bad design choice that it is a bug in the game.

AP is a very good game, too bad it just hit the wrong spots with many people. After just finishing AP I'm playing straight shooter CoD 1 now for the first time and enjoying the pure action aspect of it more than AP but I really miss having all of the role-playing elements such as a good long storyline, items to find and upgrade, conversations, etc.etc.etc.

.. Wait a minute, did he just say RPGs need higher scores than the rest? If anything, RPGs tend to score lower than equal games of other genres. Action games in particular tend to get redicilously high scores compared to the rest, despite rarely offering anything beyond addictive gameplay (using the same recipe even).

Not sure what they're comparing to here, did they expect Oblivion kind of success? Bethesda and BioWare tend to get overhyped scores and reviews, but it would be silly to expect that kind of hype around any other RPG developer.

They need higher scores because they're less popular. I guess Sega expected sales numbers equal to those of a big budget shooter. And it sure had potential to do so (more than Risen, Divinity 2 or any similar B fantasy rpg).

Originally Posted by guenthar
I also hate the save points and I hope they patch that out of the game since I consider it such a bad design choice that it is a bug in the game.

They probably left that in order to ensure people don't repeat conversations which would kinda kill off all the tension.

Originally Posted by Malk
They probably left that in order to ensure people don't repeat conversations which would kinda kill off all the tension.

That's how they explained it on the official forums.

By the way, honestly predictable.
The game is far from a shooter, but it doesn't really appeal neither to the mainstream tastes (clunky combat, RPG elements that hamper aim and things like that) nor the old RPG crowd (too twitchy).
The game had potential, but the flaws were too notable.
They could have probably fixed a lot of things in a sequel, but you have to lay a foundation to do that.
SEGA and Obsidian didn't.

Originally Posted by Maylander
.. Wait a minute, did he just say RPGs need higher scores than the rest? If anything, RPGs tend to score lower than equal games of other genres.

He did - and from his perspective, he's probably right. He's saying mainstream gamers don't readily embrace RPGs, so they need to score really highly to sell.

On the main topic, it's a shame but not exactly a surprise. Still my favourite game so far this year.

Too bad. While flawed it is a LOT of fun to play.

At least it will now have a much better chance of being added to the list of favorite under-appreciated one-of-a-kind jewels instead of being reduced to another sad, dull, compromised franchise that everyone will love to hate.

I'll definitively buy it when it's cheaper - the setting is so unusual, compared to the rest (fantasy, survival … what else is there ?).

Bad news, I loved to play the game.