A heated underground war appears to be underway between Gearbox Software and Section 8 developer TimeGate over the extent of their respective contributions to the rather disappointing Aliens: Colonial Marines.
TimeGate, Demiurge Studios and Nerve Software all helped out with the long-in-development shooter, which finally saw release this week. In the words of Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford, Demiurge "with us at the very beginning, helping us to explore networking and multiplayer". TimeGate, meanwhile, put in "probably about 20 or 25 percent of the total [development] time". Gearbox itself also chipped in 20 or 25 per cent, not including preproduction work, though Pitchford insists that "it's not fair to take preproduction out of it".
"Initially, the plan was for TimeGate to take the majority of campaign, GBX would take MP, Demiurge and Nerve would handle DLC and various other focused tasks," writes the Reddit poster. "This decision was made mostly so that most of the developers at GBX could continue working on Borderlands 2, while a small group of LDs, coders and designers dealt with Pecan."
"Somehow the schedules for Pecan and Borderlands 2 managed to line up and GBX realized that there was no fucking way they could cert and ship two titles at the same time," the post continues. "Additionally, campaign (which was being developed by TimeGate) was extremely far behind, even as Pecan's Beta deadline got closer and closer. In April or May [2011] (can't remember which), Pecan was supposed to hit beta, but GBX instead came to an agreement with SEGA that they would push the release date back one more time, buying GBX around 9 mos extension."
"About 5 of those 9 months went to shipping BL2. In that time, TimeGate managed to scrap together 85% of the campaign, but once Borderlands 2 shipped and GBX turned its attention to Pecan, it became pretty apparent that what had been made was in a pretty horrid state. Campaign didn't make much sense, the boss fights weren't implemented, PS3 was way over memory, etcetcetc.
"GBX was pretty unhappy with TG's work, and some of Campaign maps were just completely redesigned from scratch. There were some last minute feature requests, most notably female marines, and the general consensus among GBX devs was that there was no way this game was going to be good by ship. There just wasn't enough time."
Colonial Marines allegedly "crash-landed through certification and shipping", as Gearbox either outright removed or "oversimplified" features to get a workable version on shelves. Apparently, "issues that didn't cause 100% blockers were generally ignored, with the exception of absolutely horrible problems". This Videogamer video - the work of widely despised former OXM writer Matt "BackStabber" Lees - may shed a little light on how the game was chopped back in the run-up to release.
Among the thread responses we find the following, which appears to be the work of TimeGate staff. "Everything Timegate did was under clear and explicit direction from Gearbox. Gearbox had creative control of everything that occurred at TG. In addition, Gearbox was responsible for firing some of the most talented people (and internationally recognized as such) TG had employed, all of which were snatched up immediately by competitors.
"It was Gearbox's shitty oversight of the project that led to the product you all now have before you. I wouldn't expect you to understand, considering you're probably some QA who has no idea what goes on outside of his department. But TG had absolutely no control of what was produced, they did exactly what they were asked to. You should be furious with Gearbox for assigning such shit quality creative directors to the project."
"Preproduction is a very insubstantial period in a game's development," the account continues. "For [Pitchford] to say that the contribution was equal sans preproduction is basically saying it's equal. You can see that Randy's math isn't really adding up. If Timegate did half, and Gearbox did half, where does that leave Demiurge, Nerve, and Darkside?"
These are muddy waters. The one thing we can say for sure is that Colonial Marines isn't the Aliens game we were hoping for - but then, perhaps you're having more fun than our reviewer did. Any thoughts on either the game or its convoluted gestation process?
21 comments so far...
CunningSmile on 14 Feb '13 said:
So in otherwords everyone is jumping up and down and saying "It's not our fault it's crap, it's theirs."
Whoever is too blame you've had 6 years guys. With that much time there really isn't any excuse for releasing as bad a game as you apparently have
SkinnerChinner on 14 Feb '13 said:
Gearbox's stamp on the box, their logo on the opening credits...thus, their mess as much as it is TimeGate's.
Mendes on 14 Feb '13 said:
I've worked on IT projects for 20 years, as a developer, a project lead and other roles from 'tea boy' all the way up.... and to be honest this all smacks of too many cooks and a lack of communication, which all boils down to one thing. Bad management.
Cunning is right, 6 years for such a project is plenty but if it's badly managed, whether that be because the main studio is having to spread its resources too thinly to cover another games release (i.e. Borderlands 2), it will inevitably fall apart.
I've not played Borderlands 1 or 2, I hear good things, but one bad release, (in this case the Alien game), from any studio can spell disaster in the current economic climate. Could Gearbox be the next studio to close? Perhaps this worry is causing all the finger pointing.
FishyGinger on 14 Feb '13 said:
And so the marmite thickens.
It's also segas fault too though. It's their property.
RedBelmont on 14 Feb '13 said:
Look at this:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/jimquisition/6832-A-LIE-ns-Colonial-Marines?utm_source=latest&utm_medium=index_carousel&utm_campaign=all
I think I've lost all faith in Gearbox, Duke Nukem was terrible, so was Borderlands 2 and as Skinner says if it's Gearboxs logo on the box then they're responsible for Aliens CM. I'm so glad I didn't waste money on the game, if I had then after watching that video I'd feel like I'd been scammed.
Gazisdaman on 14 Feb '13 said:
Guys, I think were missing the real problem here, there was a swear in this article!
CunningSmile on 14 Feb '13 said:
I don't think they'll close, no matter how badly this fails. They are the largest 'independant' developer still around, and despite a few bad reviews tend to be fairly successful at least in terms of sales. Even Duke Nukem made a profit in the end.
I'm actually expecting them to get bigger next gen because they do experiment with new IPs which always sell well on new consoles, whilst the current big boys at at EA and especially Acti have become too reliant on a few established titles and have largely stopped innovating which could pose a problem once you take away the pre-established user base that supports CoD etc.
msbhvn on 14 Feb '13 said:
I can't see how releasing the game in such a terrible state was the best option. Most of the people who bought it now feel like they were ripped off, and any news of a sequel will be unwelcome because of the bad publicity. They've effectively killed a potential franchise to make some quick cash, which is a terrible business decision.
It's not like it would have been difficult to make a satisfying Aliens game. Dead Space is almost exactly it, and maybe that's the problem, that Visceral stole their thunder.
Plamsa wing on 14 Feb '13 said:
At the end of the day, it's Gearbox who made the final call on any and all content that's in the final game. Timegate was outsoucred along with some other devs to work on this.
Trying to place all the blame on Timegate is petty at best. If you're going to blame them, blame the others as well.
With the way this is going, I can see Timegate going under. It's a shame really, they're a great dev, who've made some great games.
FishyGinger on 14 Feb '13 said:
It's everyone's fault/problem. Sega outsource the game and licence so it's their product, Gearbox are overseeing the production and the others made it. As someone said it's too much time with too many people, either Gearbox should have made it all but taken longer if it clashed with borderlands 2 or Timegate should have made it all.
Other than total war though I have little faith in segas output.
fracturedrich on 14 Feb '13 said:
Matt the backstabber,i might change my gamertag to that,it has a certain ring to it,I would respect them more if they said look,we made a mistake and we are sorry,we will be releasing free dlc and updates to the people that bought this game,and money of the next game we release.We have more chance of me winning valentine day competition than that happening.
battfink83 on 14 Feb '13 said:
this all came out on the forums about 2 days ago, its creating a major stink. apparently even sega said that gearbox made the game, maybe even they didnt know what the hell actually went on.
i and others agree though, regardless of who actually made the game, gearbox are solely responsible for the creation of it, thus they are responsible for the complete mess its in.
Johnbhoy69 on 14 Feb '13 said:
This video makes a good point that the gameplay footage we were shown months ago, which had everyone really looking forward to and excited for this game isnt actually In-game footage and the comparison is...well, just watch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3z2qVebxlUo
msbhvn on 14 Feb '13 said:
That YouTube vid is the same as the one linked to in the article, from former OXM staffer Matt Lees. The YouTube one has some of the demo/final labels wrong, so use the article link instead.
battfink83 on 14 Feb '13 said:
just read a rather interesting post on the forums, dont know how much if any is true, but.....
"reporting more fallout here. sega refusing to comment further, wii u version reportedly cancelled now, and posters saying sega gave gb somewhere around 65 million to produce quality game. 15 million reportedly went to timegate for building most of the game and the rest is said to have been embezzled for borderlands 2 production. many gaming journalists on this now and gb continues to be silent... does not look good at all ..."
hmmmmmm
msbhvn on 14 Feb '13 said:
I'd imagine indie devs have a little trouble maintaining "chinese walls" between separately funded projects, but accusing Gearbox of embezzling $50m is extremely serious. Whoever posted that better have a good lawyer.
Johnbhoy69 on 14 Feb '13 said:
My bad... Who is this guy Matt Lees and what did he do?
FishyGinger on 14 Feb '13 said:
He looked like a gay pirate and was a reviewer/editor/gay-pirate at OXM. Shame, I liked him too.
Well well well, Gearbox will have to come out and say something. The longer they stay silent over this the worse it gets really.
Bezza89 on 14 Feb '13 said:
I'm sparta- I mean I made Aliens Colonial Marines, but it's timegates fault for leaving the seat up and gearboxes for not tipping that hooker with a cleverly devised innuendo,
FishyGinger on 14 Feb '13 said:
This article is pretty good
http://www.destructoid.com/gearbox-lied ... 4966.phtml
msbhvn on 15 Feb '13 said:
Send 'em cupcakes, that'll work.
Gearbox did the same bait-and-switch with the first two Borderlands 2 DLC packs, outsourcing them to B-grade studios while they counted their Season Pass cash. I'm not bitter, honest.
It remains to be seen whether Gearbox will do an EA/BioWare and attempt to fix the mess they've made rather than pointing fingers. I'm glad I didn't fall for the hype.
At least it isn't as bad as The WarZ on Steam, now that's a scandal!