Long read: The beauty and drama of video games and their clouds

"It's a little bit hard to work out without knowing the altitude of that dragon..."

If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.

Pirates Caribbean action-RPG cancelled

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.