-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
Project Prelude Rune from Square Enix is seemingly dead
- Thread starter Deleted member 2791
- Start date
Hold on, I just thought about this...
So the game was officially revealed back in September 2018 (with some minor talk prior to this).
Baba left Square last couple months...
Then Square Enix just removes all references to the studio and website...
...What even happened!? That's such a short amount of time for all this to just fall apart.
So the game was officially revealed back in September 2018 (with some minor talk prior to this).
Baba left Square last couple months...
Then Square Enix just removes all references to the studio and website...
...What even happened!? That's such a short amount of time for all this to just fall apart.
There were news earlier this year about Square Enix restructuring from 11 to 4 development teams. I'm guessing that what's left of Studio Istolia got absorbed into one of those. Wouldn't say this proves that the game got cancelled but between Baba leaving and this, it certainly doesn't look promising.
https://venturebeat.com/2019/02/19/...-dev-teams-from-11-to-4-after-sluggish-sales/
https://venturebeat.com/2019/02/19/...-dev-teams-from-11-to-4-after-sluggish-sales/
Hmm, Studio Istolia still appears on Square Enix's list of companies:
https://www.hd.square-enix.com/eng/company/group.html
It's the only one without a corporate website though.
Wayback Machine's last capture of that page was December 30, when it had the old layout, but it had a link to the corporate site: https://web.archive.org/web/20181230113506/https://www.hd.square-enix.com/eng/company/group.html
https://www.hd.square-enix.com/eng/company/group.html
It's the only one without a corporate website though.
Wayback Machine's last capture of that page was December 30, when it had the old layout, but it had a link to the corporate site: https://web.archive.org/web/20181230113506/https://www.hd.square-enix.com/eng/company/group.html
Perhaps it was already on shaky ground and the reception to the announcement was tepid enough to convince them to kill it?
My guess is SE trying to consolidate. Baba and Tabata both leaving within a month of each other with their projects being cancelled probably isn't a coincidence.
As I said at the time I just hope Asano gets to continue his stuff.
I also wonder if they did actually kill the MIA Babylon's Fall?
So did Baba leave or was he fired? :/
At this point, you wonder how many projects they actually want to do.
At this point, you wonder how many projects they actually want to do.
I don't think the trailer reception had anything to do with it, what do they expect out of a trailer with one guy running on nondescript landscape?
Babylon's Fall was supposed to release THIS year. So doubtful. Maybe it got pushed to early 2020.
Asano should be fine. Bravely and Octopath both did well, and he wants his studio to generate a game a year--four IPs coming out on a cycle.
What even was this though? What platform? Switch? Looks mobile, which isn't a bad thing, since I like mobile.
It's also (slimly) possible they're taking all the media and info down for a rebranding. But I wouldn't hold our collective breath.
It's also (slimly) possible they're taking all the media and info down for a rebranding. But I wouldn't hold our collective breath.
OP
OP
PS4 only. It also doesn't look like a mobile game at all wtf.
I'm not saying it's reasonable, just that it might be the logic.
Well if they're consolidating and want to concentrate on their AAA bread and butter the team making mid-tier games for Nintendo platforms would be the first to go.
I'm not sure there's any reason to believe that SE's restructuring is putting Asano at risk. It probably just folded him back into the DQ division.
Tabata's project wasn't cancelled, though. If you're talking about the new next-gen game that the Luminous studio is making. It's still coming.
Same. If it's really dead that's a shame.
I liked the art style and look of the teaser when we first got it too.
It honestly does look mobile to me, maybe it's just the pixelated .gif. Have you seen recent mobile games done in UE 4? Overhit, for example?
Yeah that's all I remember about this: EZA riffing on the silly walk cycles.
And that's all I'll remember, it seems.
OP
OP
This never looked very good and with Baba leaving recently I wouldn't be surprised. Wonder if the team still exists or if they were sucked into SE proper.
They were having trouble recruiting folks for their huge projects, let along starting new franchises, so I can sort of understand it. It's still a shame though, since SE could use an agile team that releases an ~AAish RPG every 2 years or so, ala Tales Of.
The studio was announced in February 2017, and then the reveal in 2018 came along with a bunch of job postings for working on it. Afterwards, there were a bunch of Square folks like Kitase and Nomura talking about how difficult it was to source local developers in the current climate. Like I assumed above, I just kind of expect they had trouble getting a sizable and experienced enough team together, and the whole thing was moving too slowly.
Asano actually manages to release fairly successful games on a tight budget so his team will probably be okay. We already knew that all the 11 business divisions are being consolidated into 4 by 2020.
Shame, since I liked the style, even if it was a bit early. Not to mention, the genre is in need of new console-focused IP...
Okinaki is pretty much on track, it's still getting advertised and seems to be in the polishing phase, if not done already. That said I've heard TRPGF's games didn't perform well, so I wouldn't be surprised if they're on the chopping block if that game underperforms.
To be honest I'm fine with these cancellations if it means SE has a better handle on its games and their production to avert things like Left Alive and Quiet Man.
So long as people get to keep their jobs, and the projects weren't super far into development, I'm not tooooo worried. All we knew about this game was it was kinda pretty, probably an action RPG (?), and the main dude had bad fashion sense and a silly walk cycle.
