New Cryptic game reveal in late summer

By Tom Bramwell Published 7 May, 2010

People will be "pleased and a bit surprised".

Cryptic Studios will announce a new game, presumably an MMO, in late summer.

That's according to Bill Roper, who told MMORPG.com (via GameSpot) that the game may surprise people.

"I can't speak to the specifics of what we're doing, but it's true that we have another game in the works," he said.

"We won't be making an announcement until late summer, and we're still a ways off from launch.

"I can say that this is a game and a franchise we're very excited about. I think people are going to pleased and a bit surprised with what we're doing in terms of the game, how we make it, and even how we sell and support it.

"The game is being developed around new design principles merged with Cryptic's community-first approach to ongoing development."

Cryptic, which is owned by Atari, has bucked MMO convention in recent years by managing to release multiple games in the genre on time, to spec and with solid support structures.

Elsewhere Roper played up this element of the company's success, perhaps indicating that while the new game may be a surprise in some senses, it will build upon those existing foundations.

"We have an amazing toolset that ability to produce large amounts of solid multi-player content in shorter timelines. We also have a very stable publishing, billing, and support infrastructure that is integrated into our games.

"We are looking to build from this foundation while looking at new game styles, scope, and quality," he said.

Check out our reviews of Cryptic's most recent MMOs, Champions Online and Star Trek Online, elsewhere on Eurogamer.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (20) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • drchocapic #1 2 years ago

    Champions was meh, Star Trek was bad, so this should be terrible.

  • twoism #2 2 years ago

    Free to play with micro transactions then?

  • DFawkes #3 2 years ago

    I'm a big fan of Champions Online and Star Trek Online, and I'm a lifetime subscriber to both, but Cryptic support has always been sketchy at best, especially if you live outside the US as they don't seem to localise things - a recent Refer a Friend scheme to unlock a special ship is literally illegal to obtain in Denmark!

    I am curious to what this could be, but Cryptic are already under a lot of pressure with the MMOs they've got, I'd have thought they should focus on them. Though is it possible they got the Stargate MMO licence?

  • SClaw #4 2 years ago

    Another copy-a-paste of the Champions engine? Oh dear...

    That said Champions is actually pretty good. It's kept updated, largely bug free and if its a bit soulless you can't blame them technically. It's just such a crap setting.

    Star Trek was alright. It was a bit different. PotBS in space basically, without the horrid ganking. It was... just a bit soulless too.

    Cryptic just don't seem to inject any personality into their games. Everything is basically fine but they lack the charm of LOTRO, the bullishness of WoW or the beauty of AoC. While all those games have their flaws too there is always something to like in them. Cryptic's... well... there is nothing to hate. Just nothing to love either.

  • levitate #5 2 years ago

    Is it really possible to have the words "pleased" and "surprised" in the same sentence when it comes to Cryptic's games?

  • Darcstarr #6 2 years ago

    "I can't speak to the specifics of what we're doing, but it's true that we have another game in the works,"

    Really, then why put this thread on the STO forums? I think we can safely say it's a "car-based, console MMO racing game".

    http://fo rums.startrekonline.com/showthr...
    Edited by 1 at 07/05/10 @ 09:51

  • MaxiSleep #7 2 years ago

    What a wonderful regurgitation of a press release. Very refreshing for Eurogamer not to dwell on the fact that the last two releases from Cryptic games were in fact rather naff.

  • DFawkes #8 2 years ago

    Good find Darcstarr, I forgot about that. That thread was a pretty funny one too - a Cryptic staff member creaeted it, then a forum moderator locked it because it wasn't an STO thread! When you've got Mods locking Staff threads, I think you may have communication problems. It was fixed eventually though.

    But a car based MMO that's a franchise? I'm all the more curious now, if it's an existing franchise it could be anything. First thought is Mad Max, for some reason (probably too much Borderlands on my part).

  • Promey #9 2 years ago

    Maybe they could finish Star Trek Online first before they make another half arsed MMO.

  • Spekingur #10 2 years ago

    Mad Max/Borderlands car MMO - wouldn't that just be Auto Assault?

    And yet another MMO that is supposed to be released for the consoles from Cryptic. Unless they change how you subscribe to the game it probably won't happen. What I thought when I read this and considering Cryptic's engine was a Carmageddon MMO. But they probably wouldn't want to take the chance :p

  • Acrid #11 2 years ago

    "how we make it, and even how we sell and support it."

    Facebook micro transactions for teh win?

  • Eraysor #12 2 years ago

    Idiots; I think they should fix the broken MMOs they already have instead of making another one to further divide their resources.

  • dudefella #13 2 years ago

    YEah they release their games on time but with a shortage of content and they're actually charging for filling in the blanks, like in Champions. Better to focus on one solid product. Let's hope this one is actually a complete game.

  • Tin-cz #14 2 years ago

    hehe.
    They got balls, i give them that.
    They got two unfinished games. But hey, lets make another.
    Guess i dont "Get it" :-)

  • Spekingur #15 2 years ago

    Yes, guys. You all know the truth. They always have the same dev team working on all these games...

  • jonfon #16 2 years ago

    I thought this was the Neverwinter Nights MMO?

    Although there was legal wrangling over that license so maybe not.

  • Distributor #17 2 years ago

    Bill Roper: "Yes its true we have another bad game in the works"

  • Scimarad #18 2 years ago

    I actually rather enjoy Cryptic's MMOs, but not to the point that I want to pay a monthly subscription for them.

  • karmatwork #19 2 years ago

    Wow. Release 2 horrible games and now a third? Take some time, look at what you messed up, fix it. Don't just keep screwing up.

  • Spekingur #20 2 years ago

    Games being bad is just your own opinion. Some people are actually enjoying these games rather than complaining about them.