I Am Alive Gets Shanghaied

[Keane Ng]

I Am Alive Gets Shanghaied

Ubisoft's mysterious disaster game I Am Alive is no longer in the hands of independent developer Darkworks, with development now being shifted entirely to Ubisoft's Shanghai branch.

Darkworks, who have been toiling away at the still-enigmatic disaster survival game for three years now, are no longer working on I Am Alive. Development has been entirely shifted over to Ubisoft Shanghai.

"In order to respect the new launch date for this ambitious title, and Darkworks having other obligations, we have mutually decided to complete development of I Am Alive at Ubisoft Shanghai, as the two studios have collaborated on aspects of the title over the past year," Ubisoft said. I Am Alive was recently pushed back [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/88879-New-Assassins-Creed-Red-Steel-Coming] from a March release date to the end of the 2009-10 fiscal year.

Those interested in the game may take this as troubling news - could this be another indicator that it's mired in development hell? There's been barely word one about how the game even plays, outside of the few gameplay details [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/88482-First-I-Am-Alive-Details-Come-Alive] revealed a few months ago that revealed a first-person survival game that emphasizes tactics over gunplay.

As for Darkworks, Ubisoft maintains that they'll still get back what they put into the project. "The team at Darkworks has respected its contractual obligations on the project and will be a part of the success of the game when it launches," Ubisoft said.

The independent studio apparently had a good, if somewhat stressful, relationship with the mega-publisher. "It has been a long time we have been working with them and, as an external developer, we have been treated well," Antoine Villette, Darkworks CEO, said last year. "For Ubisoft, for original IP it is very aggressive. They are quite willing to take risks and they deserve some applause for that."

Joystiq [http://www.joystiq.com/2009/03/06/ubisoft-moves-i-am-alive-from-darkworks-to-ubisoft-shanghai/] ventures that Ubi's contract with Darkworks probably just ran its course, and instead of renewing it and risking further delays, the publisher decided to bring it in-house to expedite development in time for the game's release. Ubisoft Shanghai was previously responsible for Tom Clancy's EndWar and Splinter Cell: Double Agent. Let's hope they can preserve the original spirit of the game, whatever that was, I still have only the vaguest idea.

[Via Eurogamer [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/ubi-pulls-i-am-alive-from-darkworks]]


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[SomeBritishDude]

Really hope this game will be good, though its seeming less likely.

Pretty much this. It sounds interesting, but I'm starting to believe it'll be stuck in development for awhile.

 

[Cousin_IT]

hope this isnt a case of letting some outsider doing all the hard work then simply kicking them out the way to finish it off & reap the rewards themselves

 

[ElephantGuts]

Ah, Ubisoft Shanghai. I really don't know if this is good news or not. I'd like this game to be good. Perhaps Ubisoft can pull it off?

Perhaps.

 

[DeleteMe1112311]

Lets hope its good...looking less and less likely by the month.

 

[Copter400]

I really can't respond to this. We've been told so little about the game that I don't particularly care who it's being developed by. It could be released announced to be a gorram RTS and I wouldn't care.

 

[DaxStrife]

"In order to respect the new launch date for this ambitious title, and Darkworks having other obligations, we have mutually decided to complete development of I Am Alive at Ubisoft Shanghai, as the two studios have collaborated on aspects of the title over the past year," Ubisoft said.

Translated from publisher-speak: "They are not making the game as fast as we demand, so we're taking it from them and giving it to someone else to slap it together for our pre-determined release date."

 

[nova18]

"In order to respect the new launch date for this ambitious title, and Darkworks having other obligations, we have mutually decided to complete development of I Am Alive at Ubisoft Shanghai, as the two studios have collaborated on aspects of the title over the past year," Ubisoft said.

Translated from publisher-speak: "They are not making the game as fast as we demand, so we're taking it from them and giving it to someone else to slap it together for our pre-determined release date."

This ^^.
Like everyone says, not a lot of details have been announced about the game, so no-one knows how to take this news. Personally I think that it will be a while before we see it on shelves.

 

[theSovietConnection]

For those who've played the game, this is looking an awful lot like a graphically updated and relocated Disaster Report. It looks good, here's hoping its out by the date of the disaster (June 2009)