Chris Taylor Cancels Wildman Kickstarter

[Andy Chalk]

Chris Taylor Cancels Wildman Kickstarter

Gas Powered Games boss Chris Taylor says it's time to focus on other ways to save the beleaguered studio.

Gas Powered Games honcho Chris Taylor found himself in the unusual and unpleasant situation of having to lay off most of his employees mere days after rolling out the Kickstarter for his proposed action-RPG Wildman. With support from fans, he ultimately decided to continue [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/121648-Chris-Taylor-Says-Wildman-Kickstarter-Will-Continue] the Kickstarter in an attempt to save the studio, but as funding faltered - with only four days remaining, it was less than halfway to its $1.1 million goal - he has now decided to pull the plug.

"At this point, it makes sense for us to focus our attention on other ways to keep Gas Powered Games running. Unfortunately, we are unable to share any specifics in public," Taylor wrote in a Kickstarter update. "We are profoundly grateful to those of you who backed this project and Gas Powered Games. Your passion and hard work put us in a position to write this exciting new chapter in the history of GPG."

Taylor said that further news will be posted on the Gas Powered Games website and recommended that gamers who want to continue following and discussing Wildman do so at the Gas Powered forums. He also expressed some optimism in the final Kickstarter video update that the game and the studio may yet be saved.

"I've been working in the background to find other ways to keep Gas Powered Games running," he said. "If all goes well, which I think it will, I'll be able to give you all some great news in the weeks ahead."

It's an unfortunate end to a promising Kickstarter and, quite likely, a once-prominent game studio, but perhaps Taylor will yet find a way to keep the lights on, and maybe even bring Wildman to fruition.

Source: Kickstarter [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gaspoweredgames/wildman-an-evolutionary-action-rpg/posts/403739]


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[Denamic]

I'd have pledged if I knew about it.

 

[Tanakh]

Sad news, I didn't cared about the game and has been more than a decade since GPG did something I enjoyed. Still, the game looked nice and they seemed so passoinate I really wished them the best.

 

[Frostbite3789]

I'd have pledged if I knew about it.

There have been like six news posts about it in the past half a month on here.

 

[Denamic]

I'd have pledged if I knew about it.

There have been like six news posts about it in the past half a month on here.

There's been 4. And the first post was about how it's dying. There's PR issues here.
Also, half a month is another way of saying two weeks, which really isn't a lot of time.

 

[Harper0341]

How about you finish Kings and Castles.

Just a thought...

 

[yayforgiveaway]

Yes and they also made SC2 and now they're paying for it.

 

[aelreth]

Chris Taylor recently revealed on a podcast that successful projects require pitching a familiar game to their old customer base. This is what was learned from the Wildman Project.

A shame, I like his games, and I wish him the very best.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Those "amazing" gaming sites like Kotaku and IGN didn't do almost anything to try to promote it. I know it isn't their responsibility to do that, but I expect gaming sites to care about games. Especially good ideas like Wildman. So help a brother out for fuck sake. It was all over The Escapist but that's not enough.

 

[rapidoud]

Yes and they also made SC2 and now they're paying for it.

They wanted to stop making games that Publishers want and instead start making games that they themselves would want as gamers. SupCom 2 was also a bigger commercial success than SupCom so I can hardly blame them for that either when Square Enix would've demanded it.

 

[MmmFiber]

It's crappy, but expected, news.

Obsidian's Project Eternity and Double Fine's Double Fine Adventure only brought in 3-4 million. Those are two very well known and mostly respected developers. $1.1 million sounds a bit steep. Wildman looked to be on par with other games on Kickstarter that only needed a few hundred thousand or even less.

 

[ScruffyMcBalls]

Those "amazing" gaming sites like Kotaku and IGN didn't do almost anything to try to promote it. I know it isn't their responsibility to do that, but I expect gaming sites to care about games. Especially good ideas like Wildman. So help a brother out for fuck sake. It was all over The Escapist but that's not enough.

Yeah, I agree here. We're a community, for as much as people seem to forget that. This was shaping up to be something cool, and it should've really gotten more coverage.
Well, I just hope they can find some other way to revive their company and get this thing on shelves (or digital shelves, whichever). Be a shame for so much effort to go to waste.