Pirates Caribbean action-RPG cancelled

By Robert Purchese Published 15 October, 2010

Disney sheds 100 staff at Propaganda.

That new Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned action-RPG that was coming: it's not any more - Disney has dumped it.

And, as a result, developer Propaganda Games is in trouble.

"Disney Interactive Studios confirms the cancellation of the Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned videogame which was scheduled to be released in 2011," Disney rep Angela Emery told Kotaku.

"As a result of this decision, DIS completed a restructuring of Propaganda Games, its Vancouver, BC internal studio, affecting one of the studio's two development teams.

"The studio is still in active production of TRON: Evolution, the videogame, which will be released on [26th November 2010 in Europe] with additional DLC support following the game's release."

As many as 100 staff are thought to have been let go. Emery wouldn't verify those numbers, but revealed that one of the studio's two teams had been axed.

Announced in May 2009, Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned strongly resembled Microsoft's hit action-RPG series Fable. Even the story - loaded with "numerous moral and character choices" - sounded similar. We were told the game would come on PC and consoles in autumn 2010 - and an E3 2010-released trailer suggested everything was hunky-dory.

Meanwhile, Tron Evolution approaches launch. Christian Donlan launched himself into the multiplayer for Eurogamer earlier this week. "With its sharp neon design, clever twists and rangy maps, it would certainly be good to see this game flourish," he wrote.

Coincidentally, Fable II's main character was nicknamed Sparrow.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (18) Latest comment 2 years ago

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  • kangarootoo #1 2 years ago

    Shite. This isn't the sort of news you want to read first thing in the morning (the job losses I mean, with my gamer hat on I am indifferent to the game itself).

  • Seehuusen #2 2 years ago

    I would have liked to see this game release, just so i could consider buying it if it was only half as good as fable.

  • frunk #3 2 years ago

    To the newly unemployed masses,

    Merry Christmas!

    Love,

    Mickey Mouse
    Edited by frunk at 15/10/10 @ 09:40

  • RandomTerrain #4 2 years ago

    Ouch that's not good. Unexpected news. I wonder if there was actually something wrong with the game or if it was simply too far behind schedule. I think this game would have been quite popular from the sounds of it.

  • richarddavies #5 2 years ago

    Im sure all 3 people that was looking forward to this are devestated. The job losses are a shame though. It's happened to me more than once. It's not fun.

  • McBradders #6 2 years ago

    The fuck? I was super hyped for this :(

  • Milkman1 #7 2 years ago

    It seems like every game that tries to be even a little bit of different fails horribly.

    Now lets see if Bobby will hire them to do some map packs.
    Edited by Milkman1 at 15/10/10 @ 09:47

  • Crazyreyn #8 2 years ago

    Early previews for this were very positive. Shame. :(

  • daz_john_smith #9 2 years ago

    I was quite looking forwatd to this, it was looking pretty promising at E3

  • nuanimal #10 2 years ago

    Sorry to hear about the job losses.

    I do wonder what the specifics were of the cancellation though?

  • Tonne #11 2 years ago

    i was looking forward to this game,
    damn shame

  • Subi #12 2 years ago

    The flowery language that they use to disguise bad news is getting worse:

    "I went out to the pub last night and got into a bit of a fight. As a result of this decision, a big bloke completed a restructuring of my face, the front portion of my head, affecting one of the face's two eyes."

    Those laid off have my sympathy. And the ones left do too, because one-game studios usually only last until about a week after the completion of that one game.
    Edited by Subi at 15/10/10 @ 12:21

  • Hunam #13 2 years ago

    It looked really good, really not too pleased that it's been canned.

  • BabyJesus #14 2 years ago

    Damn, I thought this game looked promising.

    Always thought a pirate RPG would be cool. Oh well one day I'll get to sail the seven seas in a game..hopefully.

  • a8a #15 2 years ago

    Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned (cancelled) has not yet been dated, but is due to be released on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC.

    What an unusual sentence.

  • BoffBoff #16 2 years ago

    Yarrr!

    I thought this would have been an almost guaranteed success carrying the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' name.
    Hopefully all those laid off can find work.

    It's a shame it's a Disney IP or they could have released it via another publisher.
    YARRRR!

  • smelly #17 2 years ago

    If tron really is going to be released on 26th November 2010.. chances are it's actually finished.

    It takes at least a month to get through approval and duplication processes/etc etc.

  • TRUTH #18 2 years ago

    I was looking forward to this...But if like Fable, will not bother! Fable was so repetitive and simplistic. Go A to B =, kill everyone then go back to point A..Repeat!