REACTION - Shapeshifter Games is a feel good win after the hot mess of Embracer
Rising action.
By Jonathan Garrett
30/01/24
It’s wonderful to see something positive emerge from the failings of a mismanaged and overreaching publisher. Shapeshifter Games have revealed themselves today, formed by several veterans of the supremely talented team at Volition which was recently shut down. Their focus is going to be on AAA development, and working with larger publishers. It’s a jolly win for the industry after months of ongoing employment turmoil.
Furthermore, inXile have announced that Shapeshifter have already been working with them on their upcoming Xbox first party title Clockwork Revolution, in a similar co-development partnership that The Initiative has with Crystal Dynamics. As projects of this scale continue to increase in scope and complexity, these kinds of deals make increasingly greater sense.
After Second Wind’s formation following The Escapist culling, or the countless other media and game development teams that have suffered layoffs recently, we hope this trend of independent projects and new funding methods continues to become the norm. It’s always nice to offset the negativity with something positive!
TARPS?
At the bottom of some of our articles, you’ll see a series of absurd looking images (with equally stupid, in joke laden names). These are the TARP badges, which represent our ‘Totally Accurate Rating Platform’. They allow us to identify specific things, recognise positive or negative aspects of a games design, and generally indulge our consistent silliness with some visual tomfoolery.
