SiN Episodes cancelled - Ritual forced to make casual games

[Roufuss]

Not sure if this is old news or not (well, it is), but I just found out about it and I don't ever remember seeing this on CAG.

You all remember SiN Episodes? The first of three games to be delivered in episodic content? The first episode was really good and showed potential, I definitely loved the personal challenge system.

Well bad news, we'll most likely never see another SiN episode again -



With the sale of Ritual to MumboJumbo and departure of several employees all future development of Sin Episodes looks to be canceled or delayed indefinitely. The reasoning behind the change is that MumboJumbo has already tasked Ritual with making "high-quality casual content."[1]

"The idea of acquiring Ritual was to have them strengthen our development in the casual genre and not to have them involved at all in the action style games," Cottam explained. "If there's an opportunity to have them do something on the SiN episodes, we would look at that, but that will not be the focus of the company. The combined companies will focus exclusively on casual, unless opportunities present themselves that we think are strategic from a business standpoint... Again, I wouldn't close the door on traditional games but that's not the primary focus."



Worst news I've heard in awhile.

Episodic gaming is such a huge mistake, for this reason. This really showed promise. They bought an action based company to force them to do casual style games - no wonder some key members quit.

[Vinny]

This is the only reason why I fear episodic games... if the first (or second or whatever-th) game doesn't do too well, we won't see a sequel and we'll be left at a cliffhanger forever.

This is really sad news. While Episode 1 wasn't the best game or anything, for $13.33 (from that CC B2G1 Free on $19.99 or less PC games) it was a lot of fun. I was looking forward to Episode 2... so much for that.

[peteloaf]

This sort of thing coupled with Valve's one episode a year strategy is why I can't help but agree that episodic is a terrible idea for the consumer. On top of what has already been mentioned think of the final cost of one game released in episodes. By the time all of the Half-Life 2 episodes come out we may all be required to upgrade our pc's to play the next episode. So the Half-Life 2 episodes could possibly costs HUNDREDS if you keep up with the hardware in the meantime.

[KingDox]

Episodic gaming is a freaking joke. I never would buy into it.

They devs want you to get it since it takes them forever to get 100% of a game done. So why not sell the first 20% you have done and make a quick buck. And the claims that Episodic gaming is cheaper is a joke too. You could buy Sin Episode 1 at a B&M cheaper then you could online.

[AK85]

The last time I started up Steam I remember seeing SiN, and thinking when the next episode was going to come out........well I guess I know the answer now :cry:

[Roufuss]

The last time I started up Steam I remember seeing SiN, and thinking when the next episode was going to come out........well I guess I know the answer now :cry:

This is what prompted me to go on wikipedia and look, because I remember not hearing anything about Episode 2 for quite some time.

[Wolfpup]

The weird thing about most episodic games...or at least Half Life 2...

they also go by the name EXPANSION PACK :lol:

Oh yeah it's SUCH a new idea ;)

Semi-unrelated, but I think "Half-Life 2: Episode 1" is one of the stupidest names in history. If you don't already know what it is, you're not going to have a clue from the title. I'd probably think it was just a few levels from the full game, or the first game in the series or something. (I've seen games do that before-don't remember one specifically, but something like "Farcry: The first act" or something where it's just a part of the game sold for $10 or whatever-sort of a glorified demo.)

[mikeohara]

ymmv of course, I saw this recently at Best Buy for $9.99 ... good for people who haven't picked it up yet.

[red flare graf]

I grabbed it for $9.99 after beating Half-life 2.. haven't played it though. This news makes me want to play it even less.

[Jedi1979]

hmm, one of my old friends moved to Texas to work for Ritual as a level designer years ago, i wonder if he was affected

[red flare graf]

hmm, one of my old friends moved to Texas to work for Ritual as a level designer years ago, i wonder if he was affected

You can probably find him on Myspace.

[RollingSkull]

I wasn't too impressed with Sin Episodes, and I would have been surprised had they been able to drag that out to keep the gameplay interesting.

"'The helicopter is defeated'... heh heh heh... 'Noooo I am defeated!'"

[michaema]

This makes me sad, I actually enjoyed the gameplay of Sin Episode 1. Although I had no intention of buying any of these episodes at full price. I would have like there to be future gameplay available to eventually purchase on sale...