In a post-mortem interview with the executive producer responsible for Brütal Legend via GSW, Caroline Esmurdoc of Double Fine revealed the bearing the lawsuits levelled at them had on the team following their title being dropped after the Activision Vivendi merger.
Allegedly the decision to drop the game had a detrimental effect on the team’s moral, as Esmurdoc asserts:
The merger announcement and subsequent diminution in publisher contact with Vivendi personnel, especially after such a previously harmonious relationship, caused internal unrest and morale dips among the team. Company meetings often included frustrating discussions about what little we knew about the current situation at our publisher
To make matters worse, once Electronic Arts picked up the title the team were embezzled in court hearings right in the middle of crunch time:
The lawsuit was filed just as the game went Alpha, with a stipulation that it be heard prior to Gold Master being submitted – relegating Tim and myself and a cadre of team leaders to the unenviable job of information gathering, declaration writing, lawsuit reading, witness interviewing and all around non-game-making during the crunchiest, most critical time of development. The lawsuit took its toll on the team, on the company, on our product and on our optimism. Wrong, any way you slice it.
In spite of the somewhat misleading press the game received about its genre melding, it still received a relatively high reception from critics- even from our own resident reviewer himself. I suppose this is more negative press for Activision about their tactics, then.
Source: GSW, via The Escapist
Develop 2010: Schafer on Kotick
Interview reveals that Tim Schafer is lonely
Eurogamer interviews Tim Schafer
Schafer: "I've Got to Remember to Keep my Mouth Shut"
DJ Hero 2 Confirmed, For Realz
Comments (0)