Rise & Fall rises again

By Games Industry.biz Published 13 January, 2006

Development shifts internally.

Midway Entertainment has confirmed that development of recently closed Stainless Steel Studios' ambitious RTS title will be completed internally, quashing rumours regarding the closure of its San Diego studio at the same time.

Rise & Fall: Civilizations at War, designed by Age of Empires lead designer and Stainless Steel founder Rick Goodman, was initially scheduled for a release in February. The RTS title was, according to reports from former Stainless Steel employees, practically complete when the studio unexpectedly closed its doors in late November 2005.

Given the apparent state of the project at the time of Stainless Steel's closure, it would appear Midway is intent on making a number of creative changes, and a new release date of June 2006 has been announced.

Rumours suggesting a closure of the San Diego development studio began to emerge after Midway announced less than impressive recent financial results. According to reports, the studio was set to be shut down following the completion of Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows for the PS2.

The development work on Rise & Fall could well be the lifeline the studio needs to remain active, though it is possible the completion of the game could also signal the completion of the internal studio's life-cycle.

Comments (3) Latest comment 6 years ago

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  • Eldritch #1 6 years ago

    That's some great incentive.

    "You're closed. Oh, wait... No, first finish this thing here, then you're closed."

    Pure genius.

  • afray #2 6 years ago

    I suspected this when stainless closed so close to the end of the project, but now this confirms it. It's a typical publisher's ploy:

    They sign you up, then hold back on the milestone payments for "marketing reasons," effectively driving you into the ground. And because it's a publisher's market, they have a clause in your contract meaning the IP and the source/assets revert to them on the closure of the studio.

    They screwed stainless. Fuckers.

  • Eldritch #3 6 years ago

    The same happened to Rogue.

    Seems like publishers don't really care about games, or, at least, their "producers" don't.