If retailer listings have it right, Obsidian’s espionage RPG
Alpha Protocol won’t be coming out of development until this summer -- June, specifically. That’s a
mighty delay for an often-overlooked game set to hit this October. But the release postponement is all for the good of the product, right?
It is according to Obsidian’s Mathrew Rorie. In a
recent message board post (via
VG247), Rorie said this most recent delay would help the game become more visible, and give Obsidian the time to shine it up and make it look even prettier.
“Just keep in mind that, in the end, this is going to help
Alpha Protocol achieve the greatest success possible for it,” said Rorie. “The game is going to get a good coat of polish to it, and it’s also hopefully going to become more visible to the gaming community at large. So that’s a win-win for everyone. It sucks that it won’t be coming out for a while, but it’ll be awesome when it does,” he said.
Rorie’s message was also to relax those unprepared for the delay, obviously bothered that they weren’t playing the game in the month they were prepared to.
Nestled among the treasure trove of information in the
leaked Sega document, there was an unfavorable mention of Obsidian’s Alpha Protocol, leading us to believe that Sega wasn’t happy with Alpha Protocol internally. Lines like, “not enough like
Mass Effect,” and “barely RPG,” are quite damning,
despite Obsidian’s rebuttals.
Speculation aside, the one sure thing in all of this is that Alpha Protocol was an invisible videogame, its voice drowned out by the dozens of blockbuster titles like
Uncharted 2,
Brutal Legend,
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and the like.
So, will this delay help make the game visible? Sure, provided that Sega puts some financial muscle behind the marketing and takes it outside of the Internet. This is a wait and see kind of thing, but we’ll definitely be looking. How about you?
Contest:
8:20 AM on 10.16.2009
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i dont think any games has actually come out on the first announced release dates EVER. they always get pushed back.
Most likely to reassure shareholders, so that their stocks don't take a pluge.
...China got two share markets 20 years ago too, ouch.
I predict games that come out in Q1 2010 like Splinter Cell: Conviction, Alan Wake, Red Steel 2 and Alpha Protocol are going to be flop because of that simple reason. They should delay these games till Summer, when people actually have money to spend on them.
In any case, the extra time is good, the screen shots i've see of the game make it appear as though it needs more time.
Also instead of coming out in October when it could have had pretty decent success in a year that's been an RPG drought, it's coming out after Dragon Age, Mass Effect 2, and Final Fantasy XIII. If it had come out now it would be looked at favorably vs. Mass Effect 1, now it's not going to look as good vs. Mass Effect 2 most likely.
And people wonder why Sega has gone from one of the biggest video game companies to a low-tier third-party publisher that can barely afford a booth at PAX in the course of the last 20 years.