None more Black, says Criterion

By Ellie Gibson Published 13 February, 2008

No current plans for FPS sequel.

Criterion has popped a cap in the ass of rumours it is working on a sequel to Black, the first-person shooter released for PS2 and Xbox in 2006.

The studio is better known for producing the Burnout series, and Black was its first contribution to the shooter genre. Judging by comments in the latest issue of D-Pad magazine (as spotted by Videogaming247) it could be Criterion's last.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but as we've mentioned many times on our podcast we're not looking at making another Black game any time soon," said Craig Sullivan, lead designer on Burnout Paradise. Nobody listens to podcasts, Craig.

"Although the rumours never seem to go away and we still get a lot of letters from fans, we're honestly not working on that game at the moment. I doubt the rumours will go away though," he added.

Course, he's not saying Criterion will never do another Black game. But with two years since the last game was released and still no sequel being considered, let alone developed, it's looking more and more unlikely. A shame, seeing as the first one was rather good.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (35) Latest comment 4 years ago

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

  • Snowy #1 4 years ago

    Gah, was looking forward to a game that doesn't exist!

  • Artemis_Matsas #2 4 years ago

    Shame. Black was a great game. Hope that they'll reconsider.

  • quantumsheep #3 4 years ago

    Great headline ;)

  • orac1971 #4 4 years ago

    I had a go on Black the other day, after playing MOH: Heroes 2 on the Wii and I have to say that the excellent control system on MOH is a breath of fresh air once you go back to something like Black... its a pity that Eurogamer couldn't bear this in mind with its 5/10 review.

    Also Black had a rubbish checkpoint system, the game was good in parts though.

    Edited by 1 at 13/02/08 @ 10:11

  • gal2319 #5 4 years ago

    Once you go Black, you can't go back!

  • Triggerhappytel #6 4 years ago

    I'd rather see more Black than yet another Burnout. I'm surprised they're not making another - the first definitely exceeded a million sales, although I don't know final sales figures. I thought it was good, but there were loads of ways in which it could have been improved, and I was looking forward to a sequel's announcement some time soon :(

  • Raz76 #7 4 years ago

    You invented this rumor just to make that headline, didn't you?

  • BadBoyBonner #8 4 years ago

    The follow up to Black is already out.

    It's called CoD 4 ;-)

  • Killerbee #9 4 years ago

    Shame. Black was great. A sequel wouldn't really have to deviate massively from the original's style to still be good - if they just tidied up the story side of things a little bit and maybe gave us a couple more levels, I'd definitely put it on my wish list.

    Burnout... I kind of feel it's been *done* now and they should move on. Sadly, I can't see that happening when each new installment still sells so well.

    Looks like I'll have to add this to Beyond Good & Evil in my list of games that really, really should get a sequel if only misguided publishers would open their eyes to how great they were.

  • AcidSnake #10 4 years ago

    I liked black a lot...I would really like to see a next-gennified sequel...

  • space_ace #11 4 years ago

    Need more Black, says EA

  • Rash' #12 4 years ago

    I love Black on PS2. It did things technically the PS2 should never have been able to. I was really hoping for a sequel. Could you imagine all that technical wizardary with these these new fangled HD consoles. Really disappointed.

  • Saladin #13 4 years ago

    That's a shame. Black was hilarious.

  • monkie_king #14 4 years ago

    As BadBoyBonner says, there's really no need for another Black, since CoD4 is essentially the same thing done far, far better. When you disregard the then-impressive graphical sheen, it was actually a pretty hollow and rudimentary game. Very short too, artificially stretched out by unskippable cutscenes and checkpoints 20 minutes apart (some of that goes for CoD4 too, of course).

    It did sell fairly well, but Burnout does far better, so economically they should concentrate on increasing their Burnout production exclusively.

  • BillyBrush #15 4 years ago

    I have a solution to your Black needs

    Just open the window and listen to a couple of pneumatic drills digging up the road

  • monkie_king #16 4 years ago

    it's funny, because it's true.

    /empties M16 clip into enemy's chest from 20 meters

    /reloads

    /empties another clip

    /resorts to headshot

  • Triggerhappytel #17 4 years ago

    @ monkie_king

    Fair enough, CoD4 is a better game than Black, but given Black was Criterion's first real effort at anything other than a racing game it was an incredibly solid effort. If they took the first game's faults into consideration (pacing issues, tough enemies, lack of variety, no multiplayer, etc) and delivered a sequel on PS360 - given their prowess for technical excellence - I think it could be a stunning game. Would love to see it happen one day.

  • Saladin #18 4 years ago

    Pfft. Only pussies use guns.

    Real men blow shit up.

  • sharpfish #19 4 years ago

    black sandwhich? shit sandwhich more like. It's obviously not a yielding Criterion!


    classic headline...
    Edited by 1 at 13/02/08 @ 11:20

  • dsmx #20 4 years ago

    In terms of explosions black beats a lot of games, try blowing up the gasometers on that refinery level with the rpg. Some nice mushroom clouds for your trouble.

  • Freek #21 4 years ago

    Damn, I was looking forward to a new one. Shame they don't even mention why they aren't doing a follow up.

  • grandmaster Verified Director, Digital Foundry #22 4 years ago

    Black multiplayer online... the best game never made :(

  • kangarootoo #23 4 years ago

    @monkie_king

    "/empties M16 clip into enemy's chest from 20 meters
    /reloads
    /empties another clip
    /resorts to headshot"

    That actually summed up my experience of Black perfectly. The gun crazy game style and destructible scenery positively encouraged you to hose the environment will bullets in a hollywood stylee, but enemies left standing when the dust settles doesn't make you feel like much of an action hero. More enemies with weaker stats would have been an improvement imo.

    I agree with other commenters though, Black was a great effort for a studio not used to producing FPS games.

  • monkie_king #24 4 years ago

    It was a great first effort, but it was also deeply flawed. A lot of reviews concluded along the lines of "promising stuff, the inevitable sequel is going to be great!"

    From Criterion's point of view, though, the FPS market is so congested and competitive, with many well-established franchises, they'd need to pour a lot of resource into making Black2 a standout title, and even if it was very good it wouldn't necessarily do all that well commercially (it wouldn't really sell on its name alone). The FPS bar is set very high.

    Whereas Burnout is pretty much a license to print money, it's low-risk commercially and a guaranteed chart-topper.

  • Ariondax #25 4 years ago

    @Freek

    "Shame they don't even mention why they aren't doing a follow up."

    They were working on Black 2 for quite a while - at least 12 months - but apparently had very little to show for it so the plug was pulled from higher up. Most of the Black2 staff had already been poached for Burnout 5/Paradise as that was having problems and needed more staff (B5 should have been out March '07 but ended up 10 months late). So now most of the Black team have dispersed - a lot of people were laid off at EA at the start of Dec'07 and quite a few have left to work elsewhere - so even if they do eventually go back to it it'll be mainly a new development team.

  • BBIAJ #26 4 years ago

    The thing I hate most about Black (apart from shooting out the lights in the forest level, only for the pool of light to remain on the road regardless!), is the way you can only ever hit the enemy with one bullet at a time, as you have to wait for the being hit with a bullet animation reaction cycle to complete, before the hit detection would register another hit from a bullet.

    Really spoils the game for me personally...

  • Nithron #27 4 years ago

    You know, stuff like that makes me wonder how much time/money each year in the gaming industry is just completely wasted on products that never turn up.

  • Sir_TimAlot #28 4 years ago

    lol @ Ariondax

    haha theres no doubt you used to work at EA UK, in QA i'm gonna guess, and was on Burnout Paradise as well around that time.
    You may have even worked for me on my team before i quit. hmmmmmm you may have even been a dev contractor, "Who are you" - (arnie accent)
    Edited by 2 at 13/02/08 @ 14:36

  • kangarootoo #29 4 years ago

    "as you have to wait for the being hit with a bullet animation reaction cycle to complete, before the hit detection would register another hit from a bullet"

    When you say "hit detectyion", surely that was just the animation reaction (which is a bit shoddy) rather than damage detection (which would be an appaling bug).

  • mkreku #30 4 years ago

    Nooo, I really want a sequel of this! The only flaws in this game was that it was too short and the end fight was a let-down. Otherwise it was one of the few FPS's I've enjoyed on my old PS2. Actually, that's a flaw too: make a PC version next time!

  • Ariondax #31 4 years ago

    @ Sir_TimAlot

    "haha theres no doubt you used to work at EA UK" ???
    Don't know what gives you the idea I work for EA now or indeed ever.
    Let's just say I know people and have good contacts :)

    "Who are you" - (arnie accent)
    Ah...that would be telling...

    Shame that there's no 'Black2' on the way though...despite it's faults I kinda liked the first one.


  • Royal Fool #32 4 years ago

    "It's like, how much more black could this be?"

  • PlugMonkey #33 4 years ago

    "Who are you" - (arnie accent)
    Ah...that would be telling...

    You do realise it says who you are in your profile...

  • Ariondax #34 4 years ago

    @PlugMonkey

    "You do realise it says who you are in your profile... "

    Haha...thanks for pointing that out.

  • DAN.E.B #35 4 years ago

    Seeing as BLACK was a good game BLACK2 will be free roaming,have no menus and no restarts!
    Perfect!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!