Det er ikke svært at forstå den skuffelse udviklerne føler, når de har lagt hjerte og sjæl i et projekt, blot for så at høre en fra etagen ovenover erklære, at spillet bliver aflyst. Det var det der skete med Naughty Dog med The Last of Us: Online, og nu ved vi lidt mere om den nedlukkede titel.
I et interview på Lance E. Lee Podcast fra Tokyo (via Kotaku) afslører game direcot Vinit Agarwal, at spillet faktisk var "around 80% complete" da beslutningen kom om at lukke spillet ned og han indrømmer, at det ramte ham hårdt:
"That was a devastating moment for me because I spent seven years working on that game, and it was soul-crushing. I remember honestly finding out that it was getting cancelled 24 hours before it was announced to the public. That's how I found out about the game getting cancelled, and it was just unfortunate, and they had to do that because they have to control the messaging."
Grunden til at beslutningen blev truffet var, at studiet blot ønskede at satse på noget mere sikkert end et mere eksperimenterende koncept:
"That was a devastating moment for me because I spent seven years working on that game, and it was soul-crushing. I remember honestly finding out that it was getting cancelled 24 hours before it was announced to the public. That's how I found out about the game getting cancelled, and it was just unfortunate, and they had to do that because they have to control the messaging."
For knap et år siden rapporterede vi, at Vinit Agarwal havde forladt Naughty Dog og i stedet havde grundlagt et japansk studie. Tiden vise, hvad han finder på næste gang, men der er flere eksempler på fremtrædende udviklere, der har forladt branchens giganter for at starte deres egne succesfulde studier og udgivet hitspil som Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, Death Stranding, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 og The Finals.
Vi krydser fingre for, at Agarwals nye projekt også leverer, og vi vil helt sikkert vende tilbage, når vi hører mere.
<social>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezqv1IyLNlQ</social>