The running rumor has been that Microsoft has canceled a first party title. Well this is the place where you here which game has exactly been canceled. Let’s have another look at the rumor once again so that we can get the exact phrase that interests us.
“Shane: I won’t go into exacting detail because these rumors haven’t been confirmed but they’re definitely swirling around. They’re probably going to break next week. So a preview of what you may be seeing next week. A big Microsoft first-party title that has been in the works for a very long time that people are very excited for, sounds like it’s being canceled. And a Microsoft executive who’s pretty high up, who’s been a voice for the company, sounds like he’s on the way out.”
- (Shane is this chap from EGM, and that all we need to know about him)
A big Microsoft first-party – These words clearly spell out one thing the game is being developed in house by Microsoft hence the term first party has been used, checking up a list of first party developers on good ‘ol Wikipedia, this is what turned up:
Out of these only 5 studios are important, for they are developing games for the 360. Boards and forums ran wild speculating on these bunch of games that were to be canceled and they included Alan Wake, Too Human, Banjo Kazooie 3 and Fable 2, some went ahead to cancel out Halo Wars.
“Alan Wake” and “Too Human” are being developed by third party developers that means they (MS) can just pull the plug on the publishing deals and not the development process. Too Human no matter how much negative publicity is gathering is Microsoft’s only ace in the stack to go up against God of War III, and since Microsoft does have an implicit policy of making “competitive games” (Splinter cell vs. Metal Gear, Forza vs. Gran Turismo), I highly doubt they are going to take this one off the rack.
Moving on to Alan Wake, this rumor has been officially denied at the forums, and the game is looking pretty good in every damn way, I mean Max Payne sold a lot of copies and Remedy knows its work well with crafting out unique genres, and Microsoft needs this game to have the action genre covered as well, since Gears of War 2 is still far from announcement and Drake’s fortune is already getting a sequel.
Lets shift our focus to Ensemble and Lionhead studios. They meet the first criteria of being first party titles and their games have been in development for a long time.
Halo Wars being canceled is a highly unlikely instance. “Halo” is Microsoft’s luckiest word for god’s sake. The game is already in the testing phases and was shown off at E3 2007. Fable 2 is also in rigorous development, with FF-XIII hitting the PS3 next year Microsoft would be really dumb enough to pull the plugs on this one. Lionhead has already gone ahead to deny these rumors so well that kills it.
This leaves us with Wingnut Interactive, Rare and Turn 10. First party developers(Check), games in development for a very long time(Check), people really excited about it(Check), count the Forza series out , the series is Microsoft’s answer to Gran Turismo and has been pretty successful, now here comes the complicated bits.
Wignaut Interactive and Bungie are making another game in the Halo series that has everyone excited with the phenomenal success of the Halo series this would be the logical step in creating the wave of sequels, but the recent news about the Halo movie being suspended till indefinite time and Bungie’s split, may be an indication that this game might not see the light of day at all. Talks could have broken down midway and people would not even know what the game looked like.
If anyone’s careful enough to notice Microsoft’s primary strategy has been to alternate between blockbuster games, Gears of War (2006), Halo 3 (2007), Gears of War 2 (TBA 2008), next game in Halo universe or starring Master Chief (TBA 2009).With GTA IV already in line for next year this solves the problem of Metal Gear eclipsing its console as the top seller in the season, and Halo Wars is definitely hitting the box next year, so 2 Halo games is not necessary.
Now we come to Banjo Kazooie 3, Rare, ever since its acquisition by Microsoft, the company has not been able to deliver its best performance, the Viva Pinata or Kameo games which Microsoft claims to be really important for their console have not been system sellers at all. The game has not been showcased since X06 and is still in the designing stages as of October 17th, 2007. The game’s www.banjothreeie.com website links back to Rare’s official homepage which is quite strange.
With Killzone 2 and MGS 4 gaining momentum , as a marketing agent Microsoft needs all the power it can muster to counter Sony’s growing lineup. Perfect Dark 2 wil fill the void of the stellar FPS. So Microsoft’s best foot forward would be to channelize all its energy to revitalize the franchise and give it a brand new look, the platforming genre does not seem to be at its best at the moment in terms of sales. The latest iteration of the “Ratchet and Clank” series was a great game but was not the system seller Sony’s looking for rather the community went wild when they heard about Resistance’s sequel being in development.
The same thing applies for Microsoft as well, no matter how much I’d urge MS not to do something like this and since the possibility of this rumor coming true stands at 97% by the speaker Banjo seems the likely candidate to get the axe, Sorry Old chap, guess it’s the grave for you.
–Neelesh Mukherjee