Spore: Again
We saw this coming when EA hired Soren Johnson back in April, but here's the official word. From Yahoo News:Redwood City, California-based Electronic Arts said it's taken out "Spore," a game where players build organisms from scratch, from its financial projections for the fiscal year ending in March 2008, adding that the game could be delayed until fiscal 2009.
Look, I know EA isn't going to talk about this, but after 5+ years of development, I think it's fair to say this game is in trouble, no matter the brilliance of the people designing it. Yes, the concept is brilliant, it looks wonderful on video, we all love Will Wright--but it doesn't matter if you can't finish the game. And from the sound of the announcement, the game is nowhere near being finished.
I think that for some people, having nearly unlimited budget and total schedule flexibility is a curse. Actually, I wouldn't say that for "some" people--I'd say it for everyone. When no possible choices are excluded, then every possible choice must be considered.
It's a game designer's version of the alleged Chinese curse "May you live in interesting times."
Oh, and I stumbled across a very interesting profile of Will Wright that ran in the Wall Street Journal last year. Thanks to Kotaku (copyright violations notwithstanding), you can read it here.
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