Aliens RPG development indefinitely suspended

By Tor Thorsen, GameSpotPosted Feb 12, 2009 1:22 pm PT

Sources confirm that Sega has stopped work on Obsidian's role-playing project based on the classic 1986 film.

Yesterday, Sega announced that it was pushing back Gearbox's shooter Aliens: Colonial Marines to make way for a new Aliens vs. Predator game. Today, GameSpot has learned that the Japanese publisher has indefinitely suspended work on its other Aliens-inspired project, an untitled role-playing game for consoles and the PC. The game had been actively in development at indie shop Obsidian Entertainment, whose cofounder Feargus Urquhart told GameSpot that it was "coming along nicely" at last year's D.I.C.E. Summit.

Game over?

Despite rumors of an outright cancellation, the Aliens RPG remains officially on the books--for now. When asked to confirm reports that the game had been shut down, Obsidian reps directed all inquiries to Sega, which offered a less-than-comforting comment.

"We will have more news to share about our Aliens franchise games in the near future," said the rep. "Sega does not comment on rumors or speculation about its products... Please stay tuned for future correspondence regarding our products."

If development is not resumed, it's likely that little will ever be known about Obsidian's Aliens RPG project, which was first announced with great fanfare in December 2006. Over the next two-plus years, though, the game was never shown to the press or public, unlike Aliens: Colonial Marines, which graced the cover of Game Informer last March. Inquires sent to Gearbox about that game's status had not been returned as of press time.

122 Comments

  • Wolves69

    Posted Feb 28, 2009 10:21 am PT

    I like Aliens, only first-person shooter no Strategy I been played Aliens Versus Predator: Extinction have Strategy on PS2 long ago good mix group human & aliens & predator fighting like 1 queen alien with eggs & many 20 or more aliens & many human & predator . Still no more Strategy , I want Strategy on PC good for mulitplayer.

  • prolink47

    Posted Feb 19, 2009 7:02 pm PT

    Aliens and AVP don't need to be RPG's we already have star trek and stargate in the works aliens and AVP needs to be always FPS that's where they belong i am sorry that failhammer didn't work out i have to agree with thingta42 about aliens rpg

  • Bwags

    Posted Feb 18, 2009 1:49 pm PT

    LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMMEEEEEEEEEEEE.....

  • LostSoul1974

    Posted Feb 18, 2009 10:15 am PT

    Aliens RPG project, huh? Sounds like that would have been pretty cool...

  • DPhunkT

    Posted Feb 18, 2009 10:14 am PT

    What else is new? With the title "Aliens RPG (working title)" in the list and its already 2009 what else can you expect?

  • raptures330

    Posted Feb 18, 2009 8:33 am PT

    So whats Obsidian gonna be doing with all the people that were working on that project? How else does this cancellation affect Obsidian?
    *Goes off in search of info...*

  • Humorguy_basic

    Posted Feb 18, 2009 3:55 am PT

    Can't you see....?!!!! Every genre that is harder/more expensive to make than a first/third person shooter utilizing an off-the-shelf engine (Unreal, etc) is getting cancelled? JAde Empire was cheaper to make as RPG elements where dropped and replaced with a fighting game. Mass Effect was cheaper as it had RPG elements dropped and replaced with a third person tactical shooter. Fallout 3 was a lot more about shooting and less about 'roleplaying' than Oblivion, and the Fallout 3 DLC is a pure shooter. I cannot see, at this rate, that we will have anything but the shooter genre in a couple of years. With the exception of an Elder Scrolls or Fallout game every 3-4 years, it seems pretty much over for AAA hardcore RPG's like Morrowind, Gothic or the original Fallouts.

    Even the media are quit happy to call a game an 'RPG' if you can change weapons and armour, or just if there is an inventory! With this lax media view on what an RPG is is also making true RPG's an endangered genre!

    One reason for the huge growth in retro gaming, is that's the only way to play so many dead genres! Go to GOG.com (a retro PC game seller) and look at their top sellers. Generally you see genres (sci fi flight games (Freespace), deep RPG's (Fallout 1 and 2) and wacky shooters (Redneck Rampage), that you just don't see in today's market any more! I have finished Oblivion, got diverted by Fallout 3, but am now back playing Morrowind. I think many more gamers have 5+ year old games sitting on their hard drive, and this is changing the market. This cancellation is another sign of this change.

  • wayanbros

    Posted Feb 17, 2009 10:59 pm PT

    Game over man! Game over, WE LOSE!

  • mastermune89

    Posted Feb 17, 2009 7:26 pm PT

    awww thats terrible news

  • julianwelton

    Posted Feb 17, 2009 2:50 am PT

    That sucks, I hope Aliens: Colonial Marines doesn't get canceled as well.

  • prolink47

    Posted Feb 16, 2009 6:12 pm PT

    we wouldn't know if the game that was going to be good on PS2 cause it never came out AVP2 was only fun when there was only 2 races fighting at a time even then pred wasn't really not that fun to play as

  • kavadias1981

    Posted Feb 16, 2009 11:14 am PT

    I have been waiting for a good Alien game ever since Alien Trilogy on the Playstation. I guess the wait continues *sigh*.

  • MrHatnClogs

    Posted Feb 16, 2009 6:48 am PT

    Bishop(Sega): I'm afraid I have some bad news. Hudson(Alien Fans): Well that's a switch.

  • tidyspidey

    Posted Feb 16, 2009 2:19 am PT

    Oh dear..... replacing Aliens RPG with an AvP game? I hate to use this phrase, but it's got fail written all over it..... what are you doing at the moment Sega!?

  • thingta42

    Posted Feb 15, 2009 11:06 am PT

    yeh Geryon 10/10 i dont whana see some Alien RPG Where its like.

    "Alien Hits you for 100
    "your pulse rifle shoot Grenade...YOU MISS

  • jordan_johnson

    Posted Feb 14, 2009 10:47 pm PT

    Geryon, you hit the nail on the head! I really want to see A:CM. Not some RPG AvP game.

  • Geryon

    Posted Feb 14, 2009 9:10 pm PT

    Aliens: Colonial Marines has already been under constant rumors of being cancelled (Particularly during the recent restructuring of Sega where a huge number of titles were cancelled) and being pushed back now (Again) is NOT a good sign. They had already pushed the game back from its original release date some time last year to 4th quarter 2009 and now moved to ?quarter 2010. I doubt it's because of any technical decisions (Or more polish), more likely a stupidly bad marketting choice; AvP is "fresher" and "cooler" than a stand alone Aliens story because it has 2 radical monsters in it...*sarcasm*

    I'm not interested in running around as a lame Predator killing 1000 mercs/aliens, the Predator is supposed to be about "the hunt" and the AvP games do not capture the essence of that (They can't because it would be too boring to actually stalk and eliminate a small group of personnel 1 at a time). As much fun as it was to play an Alien in AvP2, I could care less about repeating the experience again.

    I wanted a Colonial Marines story within the Aliens universe. And A:CM had all the makings of a winnder; even going as far as hiring the concept designer of Aliens (1986) to sketch levels and a story written by two of Battlestar Galactica's writers.

    Nonetheless, AvP2 was the real only AvP game with a decent SP experinece and that was made by Monolith, not Rebellion. Rebellion made the lousy 1st game (I don't care for MP, so the 1st game was utter crap for those looking in that department). AvP3 will be made by these people (Rebellion) and they have not made any decent games as far back as I can remember. So yeah, not thrilled even a little here.

    As for Sega, they are just one let down after another. The only reason I have any hope for CM is because of Gearbox. As they keep pushing CM back, the more likely I see it being eventually cancelled (Especially with its turbulent development under constant threat of cancellation).

    So I have no faith in Sega at all. If CM is ever released then I'll be glad to buy it, otherwise they can stuff AvP3.

  • so_hai

    Posted Feb 14, 2009 5:44 pm PT

    I didn't even realise that there'd be players waiting for this game anyway.

  • thingta42

    Posted Feb 14, 2009 12:14 pm PT

    Yeh ever thought the reason why they Axed the Old ACM on the ps2 was because it was crap? Again how would you know about these Techical Things on why they Stoped making it for the ps2?

    I Know your Pain i want ACM as much as you do but Flaming & Going mad isnt going to make it come out faster.

  • thingta42

    Posted Feb 14, 2009 12:11 pm PT

    Avp wasn't crap for crying out. It was one of the Best First person Shooters for its time. Although the first one wasn't Special it was still good in its own right. But the Second AvP game was pure Gold.

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