We can thank the Phil Spencer era at Microsoft for many things, including the creation of Xbox Game Passbut it would be crazy not to recognize that when it comes to creating new franchises, and maintaining those that were in good shape like Halo, things have not gone as expected.
Among all the cancellations, setbacks and projects kept on the fridge, there is one that has been mulling over in my head for years. When Microsoft wanted to create your own stealth franchise a la Metal Gear Solid with the creators of the latest Gears of War.
The Black Tusk Studio project
Formed from veterans of Electronic Arts and Epic Games, The Coaliti on may today seem like a studio that has always been linked in one way or another to Gears of War
Founded in 2010 as Zipline Studios, after the fever of games for Zuckerberg’s social network, the studio was renamed Microsoft Game Studios Vancouver and two very different projects fell from the sky: a multiplayer version of Microsoft Flight and a shooter for Kinect called Project Columbia.
Barely a year after that first name change, the projects were completely cancelled, 35 workers were fired and the studio was renamed Black Tusk Studios in a much more ambitious and exciting leap.
As Mike Crump recounted at the time, the turn of events had been motivated by the green light from Microsoft to create a new triple A destined to become Microsoft’s next big franchise: “We are not working on an existing franchise. We are looking to create the next H alo here in Vancouver. (…) We are working on something from scratch.”
The hello and goodbye to the “next Halo”
During E3 2013, the one in which we were introduced to the launch of Xbox One and a large part of its initial catalog with games like Ryse: Son of Rome or Quantum Break, Phil Spencer’s mouth was warm by presenting a great triple A project that left us with the video that we showed you a few lines above.
Spencer assured that everything was created with the console’s engine and that to give it shape Black Tusk had brought together a world-class team to create a new triple A for its new console. Just six months after that announcement, the discourse changed to “it was more of a concept than something they were working on.”
What happened between that promising announcement with an air of Splinter Cell and those statements was the acquisition of the franchise Gears of Warwhich in January 2014 became part of Microsoft while Black Tusk Studios became The Coalition and Rod Fergusson began running the show.
Years later the studio recognized that there was more than an idea in that abandoned project, that they had been working on it for a year and a half and that there was some debate and duel among their ranks about whether the right thing to do was to continue or jump to Gears of War. We will never know if that project would have changed our perception of The Coalition, but it is undeniable that anyone in their situation would have done the same.
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