Rumor: Harmonix Cancelled an Unannounced Xbox One Kinect Game

[Michael Epstein]

Rumor: Harmonix Cancelled an Unannounced Xbox One Kinect Game

Harmonix may have dropped one of their "many" upcoming projects. The question is: What game drew the short straw?

Rock Band and Dance Central creators Harmonix may have shut down production on an unannounced Xbox One game, based on an employee's recently updated Linkedin account. In his own words, Senior Designer Rob Stokes "designed levels and did story development for an unannounced Xbox One Kinect title, which was eventually cancelled." According to the page, Stokes left Harmonix in December.

Harmonix laid off "a small number of employees" in April. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/130371-Rock-Band-Studio-Harmonix-Lays-Off-Staff]

Harmonix has plenty of unannounced games to cut. In 2012, Harmonix claimed to be working on "real-time combat game" for next-gen consoles. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/122960-Harmonix-At-Work-On-Three-Stunning-New-Games]

At the same time, Harmonix bought up a set of URLs related to something called "Chroma" last week, according to Kotaku rumor columnist Superannuation [http://kotaku.com/mystery-games-from-the-makers-of-rock-band-1503363581]. One of the domains, "chromaalpha.com," suggests the game may be PC-based and possibly destined for Steam Early Access. They also registered "Chromabeta.com," so maybe they'll do one of those too.

Source: Kotaku [http://kotaku.com/mystery-games-from-the-makers-of-rock-band-1503363581]



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[Objectable]

Company cancels game that was never announced and nobody knew about.
That happens... roughly every ten seconds.

 

[Jaeger_CDN]

At the same time, Harmonix bought up a set of URLs related to something called "Chroma" last week, according to Kotaku rumor columnist Superannuation [http://kotaku.com/mystery-games-from-the-makers-of-rock-band-1503363581]. One of the domains, "chromaalpha.com," suggests the game may be PC-based and possibly destined for Steam Early Access. They also registered "Chromabeta.com," so maybe they'll do one of those too.

Sigh, Jim called it last week already [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/jimquisition/8681-Early-Access] when he said that the bigger AAA developers are going to try to jump on the 'Early - Access' bandwagon.

 

[Hairless Mammoth]

Going into Pachter mode: "I predict that the Xbox One kinect will not have many games developed for it in its lifetime."(I seriously had trouble typing Xbox One instead of xbone there.) If a company that made games for the kinect 1 cancelled something for the next one after paying employees to get somewhat far in development, what's that say about developer interest in the kinect? I know they could use concepts and assets in another game and probably still have a new Dance Central (read:$50 song roster update) they'll regurgitate out for kinect 2. But, it seems like no one gives a single rat ass about making or buying a kinect game now. They still don't know what might make a decent game mechanic for it besides dance games, and that falls into the realm of teenage girls who only play games when they borrow their brother's or gaming sister's 360 to play kinect games. They won't even get an xbone until their family member buys one.

Microsoft, drop the kinect from the xbone bundle or make 2 bundles. The people who bought your kinect 1 are not paying $500 for a dance simulator and will wait 1-2 years before they even buy an xbone or kinect 2. You failed to force this on everyone like you failed the DRM and still haven't got that you fail Window 8. Go over to Nintendo and help each other pull your heads out of thy rectal cavities.

 

[Sight Unseen]

At the same time, Harmonix bought up a set of URLs related to something called "Chroma" last week, according to Kotaku rumor columnist Superannuation [http://kotaku.com/mystery-games-from-the-makers-of-rock-band-1503363581]. One of the domains, "chromaalpha.com," suggests the game may be PC-based and possibly destined for Steam Early Access. They also registered "Chromabeta.com," so maybe they'll do one of those too.

Sigh, Jim called it last week already [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/jimquisition/8681-Early-Access] when he said that the bigger AAA developers are going to try to jump on the 'Early - Access' bandwagon.

FYI Harmonix is an independant company, and quite small in comparison to others. Probably similar in size to Double Fine