The great Silicon Knights-Epic Games slapfight is at last underway in a courtroom, but already a judge has suggested that even if the maker of Too Human wins, it could lose. He’s said that the damages up for grabs are $US1.
Too Human suffered from a fairly difficult development period, and received a bit of a critical beating upon release, but the game retains a cult following. According to Silicon Knights boss Denis Dyack, there is still a possibility that a sequel may see the light of day.
Much has been made of a recent ruling adverse to Silicon Knights in its long-running lawsuit with Epic Games, the Gears of War maker whose Unreal Engine was to have been the guts of 2008 flop Too Human. A judge tossed out an expert witness for Silicon Knights; he was going to give his estimates of the losses Silicon Knights suffered when its deal with Epic went in the crapper.
Game designer Denis Dyack, who labored on action game Too Human for years, thinks that social gaming is a bubble waiting to burst: “The trend that I see is it’s probably going to be one of the biggest bubbles and explosions that our industry’s seen in a long time and I think when it crashes it’s going to crash very hard.” [IndustryGamers]
Silicon Knights, the creators of Xbox 360 game Too Human, says it still “intend[s]to finish the trilogy” despite meagre sales, middling critical reception and a very long development cycle.
The bunch that brought you 2008 dud Too Human is now on the public dole, getting a $US4 million gummint cheque the studio says will help it build its next AAA-game.
A press release from Canada Telefilm listed projects approved for government aid. Included in that list is a Siren in the Maelstorm from Too Human developer Silicon Knights.
Rob DePetris, vice-president of finance for Canadian developer Silicon Knights, has left the company. His reason?