[DoctorEldritch]

Hello Legion Gamers!

A piece of Good News and Bad News for all! Take your pick!

The Good News is for fans of Avatar (the elements bending one, not the Pandora one) and no, it is not that there is just one week left until the live Netflix adaptation. To be honest, I would be cautious to call it Good News at all, I am somewhat sceptical about it, the film was horrible. But One Piece managed to pull off a decent live adaptation (then again, Cowboy Bebop did not), so who knows?

No, the Good News is that there is a game announced by Paramount Game Studio and Maximum Entertainment based on the original animated series. What's more, it's a fighting game! I know @GoLLuM13 is more Tekken, but maybe that's something you can play with your niece? 😉 So if the live series turns out not to your liking, there will be a nice way to work through those frustrations.

***

And now the Bad News. A little while back we learned that Embracer Group (which is Swedish, by the way) cancelled the new Deus Ex game and closed Volition. Sadly, it was not the full extent of the problem, but the tip of the iceberg: Embracer Group let go of 8% of their employees (that's almost 1400 people!), closed not just Volition but 5 other studios and cancelled not just Deus Ex, but 41 more games: they now have 179 projects in the works instead of previous 221. Sad times for both gamers and the industry. But at least their Tomb Raider I-III Remastered got released, eh?

And hopefully Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II gets released, too. But I can't help but mourn (like @Saka's spouse on Valentine's day 😉) all those professionals and all those games that will now not see the light of day. Oh, what might have been...

[ChristianRasmussen]

@DoctorEldritch

I really hope Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II gets released.

Are all the game not just delayed until there is better economy, good games ideas will never die ?

[DoctorEldritch]

@ChristianRasmussen Chances are that Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II will see the light, but I am sad about Deus Ex. I liked that franchise.

It may have more to do with IP and franchise rights, sometimes there are people who would be willing and able to make those games but just can't get the license to do so. I mean, CD Projekt Red already ticked that box with Cyberpunk 2027, but I think they or Obsidian or Larian could make a very good Deus Ex game.

And it could be worse. For example, some may remember an old game called No One Lives Forever and it's sequel:

Not sure how many people know it these days ( @Saka, @GoLLuM13, maybe you do?), but it was a very good game for its time, a Bondiana parody, which I think did not get the praise and attention it deserved.

But good though it and the sequel were, they got trapped in the licensing hell with the license to the game and characters becoming so convoluted and complex and split that no new games can be made, no remakes can be made, and it got so bad that you can't even buy it anymore. Unless you own a physical copy, you can't play it.

Deus Ex also has a complicated license history, so I can only hope it does not run into the same problems.

But there is indeed a ray of hope that what you said will come to pass instead: as the reason for cancelling is saving, and the company is "restructuring assets", chances are the Deus Ex license will be sold off. Then we just need to hope that the buyer is a good studio.