We all died a little inside when Lilith’s Allison Road was jettisoned into the aether. The reasons behind the decision were to be revealed at a later date, with said date turning out to be “now”. Though you’ll find little solace in the answer.
A few days ago, the game’s official Facebook page was updated with the post below:
After a long consideration between Team17 and ourselves, we have reached a mutual agreement to end our collaboration on publishing Allison Road under Team17’s Games label. Sometime things pan out differently than expected as game development and publishing have so many layers of complexity… We’d like to especially thank everyone for their support through-out, it has and will always be appreciated!
OK, fair enough. There was an unresolveable disagreement between developer and publisher, but that doesn’t explain why the game had to be axed wholesale. There’s no explanation as to why Lilith couldn’t try its luck with another publisher, or revive the Kickstarter.
PC Gamer’s Andy Chalk was just as curious and decided to hit up Team17 directly. The publisher’s reply was weird:
After a long consideration between Lilith owner Chris Kesler and ourselves, we have reached a mutual agreement to end our collaboration on publishing Allison Road under Team17’s Games label,” it says. “We love the concept and value Chris’ talent highly, but sometime things pan out differently than expected as game development and publishing have so many layers of complexity. The whole team here wish all the best to Chris on his current and future projects for which, before being a business partner, we are also a fan.
It’s clear from the similarities in statements that they came from the same (PR) source, which is disheartening. Perhaps it was about money, development time or share of ownership. The real reasons may come to light eventually, but for now, all we have are these vague communiques.
As Chalk notes, the Lilith site is down, though the Allison Road site remains up and completely unaware of its subject matter’s demise.
Allison Road was canceled after devs split with publisher Team 17 [PC Gamer]
Comments
3 responses to “Publisher / Developer Split Was Allison Road’s Undoing”
Delivered with a glassy-eyed stare: Sometime things pan out differently than expected as game development and publishing have so many layers of complexity.
Team 17 nods approvingly.
And now im just learning about it, so sad 🙁
what big horror title do we look forward to now?
Hopefully Resident Evil 7 will end up being a worthwhile game.