Yep. That’s a logo alright.
You might remember that back in early October, Square Enix came up with a weird hybrid of crowdfunding and publisher-backing and called it Collective. The principle behind it was that prospective developers could pitch (for free) game ideas to Collective, which would then receive player and publisher feedback. If, after 28 days, the idea seemed to have enough legs, it would then be pushed onto the Indiegogo crowdfunding platform to raise cash.
Square has insisted that developers would walk away with the majority (even up to 80%) of net revenue, but the finer details of the terms and conditions of this process still don’t seem entirely clear. The idea of publishers exploiting crowdfunding still makes me feel rather unclean, too.
One of the aspects the initial announcement did make clear, however, was the “chance to work with some of the older Eidos IP from our back-catalogue,” with the promise that these would be revealed at the GDC Next event.
That event has taken place this week, and the IPs in question have been revealed as Anachronox, Gex and Fear Effect. Square’s Phil Elliot has stated that the publisher isn’t necessarily looking for “direct sequels” to these games, but that developers should consider reboots or “mash-ups.” Considering Anachronox left a sizeable “part two coming soon” cliffhanger at the end of the first game, I’m not sure I’d want a reboot or “mash up,” but there we go.
Tom Hall, if you’re out there, and can stomach whatever terms and conditions Square Enix want to impose, Anachronox needs you.
