I Am Alive Coming This Year, Exclusively Digital - UPDATED

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
45,698
1
0
I Am Alive Coming This Year, Exclusively Digital - UPDATED

I Am Alive [http://iamalivegame.us.ubi.com/], the survival action game Ubisoft first announced back in 2008, will finally come out this year but will only be released digitally because the publisher "doesn't have much faith in the title."

Remember I Am Alive? Don't feel too bad if the answer is no; I'd completely forgotten about it myself. It debuted at E3 2008, we got a bit of a closer look at it in Ubisoft Shanghai [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/88482-First-I-Am-Alive-Details-Come-Alive] instead. And then, nothing.

But after nearly two years of silence, we finally have news, and it turns out that I Am Alive is still alive. Jade Raymond, who these days is working as managing director at JeuxVideo [http://toronto.ubisoft.com/] that the game will come out this year, but there's a twist: instead of getting a retail release as was originally planned, it will be available exclusively on digital platforms. According to Raymond, Ubisoft has decided on a digital launch because it doesn't have much faith in the game.

It's not the sort of admission you hear from a publisher every day and it's possible that something was lost in the translation, since JeuxVideo is a French site. On the other hand, after years of development and some hugely missed launch dates (it was originally slated for March 2009), Ubi might just be looking to recoup what it can and wash its hands of the whole thing. It could also be reverse-psychology marketing, generating curiosity among the masses by pretending that the game is going to suck so badly that it won't even grant it corporeal form. Or maybe it really does suck that badly.

Whatever the deal, it's nice that we're finally going to get our paws on it. I Am Alive will be out sometime this year on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade; no word on whether or not it will make it to the PC.

UPDATE: Thanks to several readers who actually speak French it's become clear that the comment about Ubisoft not having faith in the game did not come from Jade Raymond but was simply the opinion of the JeuxVideo announcer. In response to inquiries, meanwhile, Ubisoft said only, "We have not recently announced anything for I Am Alive and we have nothing official to announce at this time."

In other words, it would appear that, yes, quite a bit was lost in translation.

Source: Scrawl [http://scrawlfx.com/2011/01/i-am-alive-is-digital-only-will-release-this-year]


Permalink
 

Disaster Button

Elite Member
Feb 18, 2009
5,237
0
41
Well curses. I was really looking forward to this, hopefully it'll be released for the PC and better than Ubisoft think it is.
 

KEM10

New member
Oct 22, 2008
725
0
0
I am a little scared now that Ubi is saying it isn't good enough for a standard release. I was looking forward to this one too. Demo if it is that bad, please?
 
Apr 28, 2008
14,634
0
0
Wow, thats really disappointing. This was one of my most anticipated games. Now I find out Ubisoft doesn't have much faith, which leads to quality concerns, and its coming in digital only?

Great, now I won't even be able to buy it. Oh I could buy it, but I'd be waiting about 2-3 weeks for the thing to download, maybe longer thanks to my shit-tastic internet.

And this isn't even factoring in the bullshit DRM Ubisoft might heap on the thing.

God dammit.
 

Ghengis John

New member
Dec 16, 2007
2,209
0
0
I hope not having enough faith in the product to avoid printing full retail disks means we'll be able to play the game without paying full retail price.
 

Jimtopia

Slaving away over a hot laptop.
Oct 3, 2008
122
0
0
I was actually looking forward to this game. Shame Ubisoft has little faith in the title.
 

theonlyblaze2

New member
Aug 20, 2010
659
0
0
Completely forgot about this game, but now that I have seen it again, kinda want it. Hope that Ubisoft is to busy counting the money from Assassin's Creed franchise to truly rate their own games.
 

Diligent

New member
Dec 20, 2009
749
0
0
This might not be a bad thing guys. Imagine how many games could have been, and just turned into vapourware because the publisher didn't think the title would generate profit. With the advent of digital distribution, we can at least see these titles that the big-wigs at ubisoft thought were going to be a black mark on their pocketbooks even though it's something that for once tries to break the mold and do something different.

Or that could be wrong, it could be total crap...
 

Sn1P3r M98

New member
May 30, 2010
2,253
0
0
I really want to play this, but I'm a bit nervous if the developer doesn't even have faith in it. Hopefully they'll release a demo so we can see how it turns out.
 

Jumplion

New member
Mar 10, 2008
7,873
0
0
I completely forgot about this game, but I do remember that water (that is, drinkable water) was supposed to be a key gameplay mechanic. Is it sad that that's the only real thing I remember of it?

It's a shame it's not getting a full release, it does look interesting, but this also not a very good sign that Ubisoft (supposedly, if the translation is to be believed) doesn't have much faith in the game. That's not something you say lightly.

EDIT: On the Update, yeah, it did get lost in translation, but that still doesn't alleviate my worries over this game.
 

ThatLankyBastard

New member
Aug 18, 2010
1,885
0
0
I remember looking at this forever ago and thinking "This... This will be great!"... and now I hear this?

Many dreams have just been crushed...
 

Red Right Hand

Squatter
Feb 23, 2009
1,093
0
0
Kind of ironic, don't you think? Letting a game called "I Am Alive" die? Thankfully, they aren't letting it die.
 
Sep 4, 2009
354
0
0
Why is anyone acting like any of this means anything? So what if its online distro only? And frankly the developer's hype - good or bad - is meaningless. They're not the critics. We are.

How many overhyped shovelware stains-of-games get released by developers promising them to be everything-and-your-first-born?

*If this isn't a mistake in translation* I hope whoever was handling the project chews the head off of Jade Raymond for gross unprofessionalism, as pointlessly undermining the unreleased work of artists, programmers etc is slap in their faces.

And trying to match a theme of "I am Alive" - the game to "I am Alive" - the nearly cancelled/shelved project on life support is gimmicky marketing at best.
 

HentMas

The Loneliest Jedi
Apr 17, 2009
2,650
0
0
now i have to buy it

damn you reverse psicology

nontheless it seems kind of interesting... i guess, never heard of the title before

TO THE INTERNETZ!
 

icame

New member
Aug 4, 2010
2,649
0
0
These are the people that gave the abomination known as assassins creed a retail release right?
Oh boy...this is goona be bad.
 

Skratt

New member
Dec 20, 2008
824
0
0
If they don't put the AC2 DRM in it, I might consider it depending on the reviews.
 

TheBoulder

New member
Nov 11, 2009
415
0
0
I was pretty interested in this game when I read about it a long while back. It's good to know it's coming out.
 

genamp

New member
Nov 18, 2010
55
0
0
It's kinda sad, you know. I had high hopes for I Am Alive, but all of the missed deadlines just seemed to push it towards "vaporware". Now, I'm not going to preemptively judge this one; in fact, it managed to pique my curiosity enough to warrant a look or two. And I'm all for experimental gameplay, even if it turns into an "urban" Lost in Blue. If it's a digital-only child, it won't hit my wallet too hard, let alone be that much of a regret if it's terrible. There's just a small chance that it will suck. Good for Ubisoft to acknowledge this. They're not throwing all 'em eggs into a small basket, I say. Business as usual.

But, you never know! Besides, I've got my fingers crossed. XD