Destructoid has done a pretty awesome job covering the clusterfuck that is Aliens: Colonial Marines. Now they have learned, courtesy of a former Gearbox developer that spoke to them only under the condition of anonymity, that Gearbox not only lied to SEGA but that this lie lead to the project temporarily being canceled.
“Gearbox was taking people off the project to put them on Borderlands 1. This was before the big art style change happened on Borderlands. Our team was getting smaller by the month, making it very difficult to get the game made. Ironically several of the team members were ex-3D Realms people who were saying [paraphrasing] ‘Finally, we’re going to Gearbox to make Aliens, and we’re going to ship a fucking game!’ Hah.
At some point in 2008, SEGA temporarily pulled the plug on the game. They caught wind of Gearbox shifting resources (despite still collecting milestone checks as if the team were full size) and lying to SEGA AND 2K about the number of people working on each project. This led to the round of layoffs at Gearbox in late 2008.” -Anonymous former Gearbox developer
It should be noted that due to the developer’s anonymity, this should be regarded as a rumor. Though if this is to be believed, the next question one has to ask is…why did SEGA pick the project back up? While this is pure conjecture on my part, I would surmise that the resurrection of this project had everything to do with the financial success SEGA saw with Aliens vs. Predator, released in 2010. The following year, Aliens: Colonial Marines made its debut at E3 and…well, we know the rest, don’t we?
I would suggest reading the entire article over at Destructoid.
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I’m enjoying the hell that Jim Sterling of DTOID is giving Randy Pitchford. 100% earned and deserved.
It sounds like the implication is the round of layoffs was what appeased SEGA and 2K, and they allowed the project to continue, like Gearbox found some scapegoats.
A rare case of Jim Sterling using his SEGA hate for good. Shame that following A:CM, he’ll revert to being the usual useless troll.
dude, what? Didn’t he give Sonic Generations an 8/10? He even gave BD a fairly positive review with a 7.5/10. Given his track record as critical troll, both are relatively high scores. What sega hate are you referring to?
I wouldn’t call Jim a SEGA hater either. He’s just an idiot in general. But I vouch for him doing all this however.
Yeah, Usually Jim Sterling just comes off as a real Douche. No offense to him personally of course.