Creative Assembly, the developers of Total War, return to strategy after failing with online shooter
Creative Assembly, the developers of the Total War series, tried to create an online shooter, but it was canceled in September. Now Sega has announced that the studio is returning to work on strategies, reports Eurogamer.
The studio, known mostly for its strategies, tried to develop an online shooter known as Hyenas, and despite the fact that “the game itself was good,” Sega said in a report to investors that the project was eventually closed.
“However, although the game itself was good, we decided to cancel the development of Hyenas because we did not think it would reach a quality that would satisfy our users when we considered whether we could really operate this as a competitive online game for a long period of time,” the company said.
Sega also said that they understand that each studio has its own strengths and weaknesses, and although the company wanted the studios to develop in new directions, it decided to focus on what they do well.
“However, some studios did well and some did not, so we have decided to focus again on the strength of each studio.”
A not-so-successful experiment has led Creative Assembly to return to what they have always done well – developing strategies in real time.
The studio’s employees had previously spoken about their dissatisfaction with the way Sega and the studio’s executives managed the project. According to them, the game, which was one of the highest-budgeted in the publisher’s history, suffered from the fact that the management failed to ensure a normal workflow.
“So much money was thrown at this project that in the end Sega probably thought it would be more profitable not to have negative press about another failed release rather than try to consolidate their financial losses. For which Creative Assembly is now paying the price,” said one of the developers anonymously.