| Jimbo1337 said: The fact that Darkside studios was working on their first game (Phantom Dust) by themselves, only underscores the pool of game developers that are left for Microsoft to choose from. |
The comments from the ex-employee denotes the studio deliberately mis-led Microsoft, to string them along for more money. It's no surprise they'd go elsewere.
Suddenly, what was once a $5 million multiplayer reboot of Phantom Dust had become a $5 million multiplayer reboot of Phantom Dust with a six-hour single-player story mode attached. That meant Darkside would need more designers, more artists, and more programmers, all of which equated to extra time and money that they didn’t have. Still, employees say they were committed to pulling it off. This was their first solo project. They wanted to prove they were good enough to do it. According to one Darkside source, their tentative plan was to build a fun vertical slice—a playable and demonstrable chunk of the game—and use it to persuade Microsoft into giving them more money.
