With two unsuccessful Kickstarters behind their belt, the folks behind Shadow of the Eternals are calling it quits for now. The team at Precursor Games, who have spent the past few months trying to get funds for their spiritual successor to Eternal Darkness in the form of two different Kickstarter projects and a crowdfunding drive on their website, updated fans in a post on their message board over the weekend.
It is with a heavy heart that we have decided to put the Shadow of the Eternals project on hold. We are very happy with what we have accomplished both as a group and with the community. The community has blown us away and was the one thing that kept us going through it all — we cannot thank you enough.
Many of us will be taking a break. For those who are not aware, we all worked on this project as a labour of love and self financed 100% of everything for a over a year to try to make Shadow of the Eternals a reality. Although we did not succeed on doing this, we succeeded in making many friends and starting something that we hope provided value for those involved. We have no regrets.
Denis, Phil and Aaron have decided to continue to run the forums for those who wish to stay hang out and talk. Denis, Phil and Aaron will also be taking a break but will be around posting and talking with everyone when they can. Others from Precursor will also be popping in from time to time.
Is the project dead? No, but we feel it needs a rest too. We have all agreed as a group that when and if the time is right we will get together and start it up again.
Keep your head high everyone and remember what we have accomplished together.
– The Precursor Games Team
And with that, this strange saga seems to be over. While it’s certainly sad that we won’t be seeing a new version of Eternal Darkness, it’s also clear that there just isn’t an audience for this project. Whether potential fans just weren’t interested or were turned off by designer Denis Dyack’s history (or other red flags), neither Kickstarter came close to hitting its goal. Maybe they’ll have better luck in the future.
Comments
2 responses to “After Two Failed Kickstarters, Eternal Darkness Successor Is ‘On Hold’”
Id say if they had try to make the game without Denis Dyack then it would have succeeded.
I dont know much about his history but it seems alot of people didnt bother funding it because he was involved.
A shame, Eternal Darkness was a really cool game way back when. A sequel (of sorts) would have been awesome.
I agree, a mighty shame indeed, playing ED briefly at a friend’s place was the reason I went shopping the next day to buy a Gamecube and a copy of that excellent game. Oh well, at least I can still play the original on Dolphin on the PC
It really is a shame. Eternal Darkness is still one of my all time favourite games, and I would love a sequel/HD remake. The real issue here was not a lack of interest in the game, because there are still a lot of die-hard ED fans, and there was absolutely a market for it. The problem is that whether Precursor Games wants to admit it or not, Denis Dyack’s name is effectively worse than mud in the games industry at this point.
I have no idea whether the allegations against DD are actually true, nor do I care. I generally prefer to give people the benefit of the doubt until proven guilty, and try not to judge a person’s character based on hearsay or speculation. Maybe he is every bit as bad as he is made out to be, maybe not. I’m not in a position to say.
The simple reality however is that due to the huge amount of negative press surrounding DD for the last few years, his being in any way associated with a project is enough to steer potential backers away in droves. Everyone else could see this plain as day, and it should have been obvious to Precursor that the game was not going to succeed so long as he was involved. I understand that the staff probably felt that they should stand by him out of friendship or loyalty, and in that regard they have my honest sympathy.
From a business perspective however, Dyack’s name is completely toxic, and if they ever wanted to get this game off the ground (especially after the first failed kickstarter) they needed to remove him from the project. He could have always been brought in later on contract to assist in a creative fashion if they really wanted to help the guy out, but by having him front and centre, in all the trailers, there was no way this was going to end well.
TL/DR: The most common sentiment I saw on any post/thread regarding Shadow of the Eternals was “Looks awesome. Loved Eternal Darkness. I really hope this gets funded, but I’m not risking my money with DD”. That pretty much says it all.