Take of it what you will
Am I missing some subtext or something, or is there just no real info here? “They did a horrible thing, but I won’t explain the nuances behind the situation, and you’re just going to have to take my word that it’s awful!”
Whatever drama this is referring to aside, Dead Cells got a ton of post-launch support and really, I don’t think anyone could possibly be upset by the amount of content the game has, or content updates it received. Sébastien seems to believe that that’s not the case, so maybe they had some great stuff planned that was never realized? Or maybe they simply couldn’t justify the cost of continued development for an older game from a studio that has a new game in the works? I don’t know, because the article doesn’t tell us.
My read is it’s more about taking work away from Evil Empire rather than it being about the game itself. Motion Twins created Evil Empire to handle future updates for Dead Cells, but then announced that the next update is the final update doesn’t bode well for job security.
Plus, I assume the fact that Motion Twin was created as a co op is probably something to do with it. There were probably unique values as a company and such that were established at the time that they have probably fallen away from.
Were you expecting journalism in the video game industry?
Try a better source like https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/ending-dead-cells-updates-is-a-marketing-stunt-to-leave-room-for-windblown-claims-former-lead-designer?
Journalism isn’t dead. People just stopped caring about proper sourcing and reading the truth
Journalism isn’t dead. People just stopped caring about proper sourcing and reading the truth
A-fucking-men
Wow, that is a better source.
Seems like the lesson here is that Evil Empire should have worked to acquire the Dead Cells license, and Motion Twin should have found a way to transfer or sell it to them, a few years ago.
Having been lucky enough to work in a software coop for a handful of years myself, I am disappointed but unsurprised to learn that these dynamics were at play internally and/or between the 2 studios/companies. It’s all too easy to assume the horizontality (and especially the right to have a say in the decisions the group takes) that you experience in your daily work at the 1 place will also be present when the 2 places interact.
