Too Human 2 and 3 in danger with Microsoft facing less global demand?

28 January 2009

Posted by:Ferry

According to a Spaceworks‘ mocap studio, edit suites animation and production facilities profile, Microsoft hired them as part of the huge 80 million dollar budget for the Too Human video game trilogy. Microsoft obviously bet big on the first title and the question is if the 560,000 copies sold worldwide in 2008 are enough to continue development of the series onto Too Human 2 and 3?

Xboxist reports that these sales are “not even close to enough to recoup its massive development costs. [...] At the same time that the game has suffered from sluggish uptake at retail, market conditions and restructuring at Microsoft put the ongoing support of Silicon Knights in doubt.

Last week, Microsoft was forced to announce major job cuts, many of which will affect the PC gaming division. Faced with deteriorating global demand for its products, the company is being forced to trim the fat and drop any project that is not conceivably profitable in the near term. This does not bode well for developers who depend upon Microsoft to fund their projects on the Xbox 360. Unless a sequel is guaranteed to be a sure-fire hit, the purse strings are likely to be very tight at Microsoft, should Dyack and his team need additional funding.”

Considering the assets and engine developed for the first game, you’d imagine a sequel for an already planned-out trilogy to already be underway. But then we looked at news from October 2008, two months after the game’s release, when 26 of the 180 employees were laid-off at Silicon Knights. Silicon Knights president and founder, Dennis Dyack, explained this in a PR statement by saying: “After any big game ships, there is always some attrition. Teams are lean and mean in the beginning, grow toward the end of the project, and then whittle down once the project is finished. To that end, Silicon Knights temporary [sic] laid-off 26 employees today while they ramp up on other projects. [...] Silicon Knights is currently working on several new and exciting games that will be announced to the public in the coming months.” Which makes sense in that it would indicate they are simply still in the planning phases of their next games.

Still, word on the street is that Microsoft was expecting a million-seller, a sure-fire hit. What publisher wouldn’t with millions invested? It seems unlikely Microsoft — who bought exclusivity on the series — is waiting to see if the long-term sales of Too Human can recoup their investment enough to warrant a sequel, so the longer it takes, the more uncertain a Too Human trilogy becomes on Xbox 360. Especially with the already discounted $40 game reportedly being out of print. Then again… Too Human itself was on and off in development for over 10 years! So only time can tell.

Categories: News, Xbox 360 News

Joe

this was an amazing game and i agree with Danny the only problem was because it didnt get enough ad space, too human 2 and 3 will be amazing if they ever get round to, sadly it fans of Baldur just have to wait and see wot happens. it would be nice if they introduced split screen in the sequals as not everyone has xbox live and shortening the death scenes would be a added bonus other then that there arent really any major changes you would need for this game. if any1 from microsoft is reading this hurry the hell up i want to kick in Loki.
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Jr

i thought too human was great! but i heard that the reviews and sales for this game werent that great and thats why they have not made 2 or 3 yet. but they have to, they cant just leave too human where its at that would be rediculous and wouldnt make sense. when they make 2 and 3 they are gunna have to step it up big time in order to recover losses from the first. but i really cant wait for them to come out i think they will do a damn good job! also i have to agree with Joe. split screen would be pretty awsome!! cuz like he said not everyone has xbox live..
jc

Liked the game alot. the big problem for me was the controls, and yes i thought it ‘was’ a great idea. but it left the cam to it’s own devices, and we all know how the turns out in the end. anymore i can think of, has already been mentioned in the above posts.
Paddy O’Rielly

Let it first be said that peepl were worried that Halo 3 would not be made becuase of the split with bungie. And it was still produced AND met with astronomical mumbers of ppl worldwide, all of them eagerly expecting it. That same fact can be made for Too Human 2 and 3. So let’s keep our fingrs crossed.
Jo

Too human is amazing need a sequel
desh4389

Even if the sales for the first game were horrible and they r worried about making a profit for 2 and 3 that should at least try to come out with some downloadable content for the game and then judge wheter or not the next to games would b worth it based on how well the content sells it would at least kill two birds with one stone it would give fans of the game something more to do as well as lining microsofts pockets a little but I’m a huge fan of the game and fell in love with it from the demo I say if ur not going to give us a sequel then at least give us some dlc to carry on the story or something
scotty

i thought it was a great game.the features of leting u choose your armour weapons and skills were a great idea its geting old seeing the game were everybody gets the same armour.after i finish the game i wanted more and hearing the 2nd and 3rd one may not come out is a let down.
xynome

too human was a great game. JUST MAKE 2 AND 3 ALREADY!!!!!!
Zalast

Too Human is a great game but it suffers from its short comings. I agree that the camera and the death scene length were great annoyance but with that aside the shear lack of download able content for the game that has the xbox store linked in the game is even worse. I put the game down for the last 2 years and picked it up again recently and was greatly disappointed in the fact in my absence from the game there was still no dlc for the stores and no word of correcting this or if the sequels will be made. The game had great art work and a driving story line that drew gamers in if they played more then the demo. This could be a great series if in the next game fixed the camera, add split screen and also give greater content for the game. Only other issue I had was the lopsided achievement rewards for the game. Beating a level without dying should be worth more then just beating a level. These short comings aside I, like many others, hope that this game pans out like it supposed to and finishes up the story line with Fenir eating Loki’s heart as you stand over his defeated and broken body.