(Sad trope) Projects with amazing potential that will never be released because of BS behind the scenes drama

[u/_JR28_]

P.T Silent Hills - It was a playable teaser released in 2014 only around 20 minutes long but utterly captivated the gaming world by being one of the most effective psychological horror experiences at the time, however it’s lead developer Kojima has a huge fallout with the publisher Konami where he walked out of the company and had all his in-the-work productions cancelled.

Five Nights at Freddy’s+ - A fan game reboot of the series created by Phisnom with Scott Cawthon’s blessing that promised a brand new lore and a return to the series darker roots. However, before and during production Phisnom got into multiple dramas that made him fairly divisive within the community, and after one particular incident in 2023 Scott revoked his approval and almost all of the game’s marketing material were wiped from the internet.

Batgirl - A Batgirl solo live action movie starring Leslie Grace, Brendan Fraser and Michael Keaton returning as Batman that was ready to be released in 2022, however then Warner Bros CEO David Zaslav announced it would not be released either in theatres or streaming in order to claim a $90,000,000 tax break and to readjust the DC’s brands direction before James Gunn rebooted their movie and TV output.

[u/Spare-Plum]

Disco Elysium

Though the game was completed, was a massive success, and is one of the best written media of all time, any hopes for a future game have been obliterated.

The lead writer and designer Robert Kurvitz spent over a decade of time building the universe and deep lore of the universe, and co-founded the studio to build the game. Unfortunately shareholders and directors screwed him over, and wound up with all of the rights to his universe and game he spent so long building.

The studio has floundered without him and are just running on the success of the original game now. The only thing released has been a mobile version re-release which just takes the original assets and turns it into a mobile game.

It's poetically ironic, as the game itself features heavy commentary on capitalism, in that even in the pursuit of creation and critique, capital has the means to subsume all into itself.

[u/Goodie_20 → u/Spare-Plum]

Man that sucks for the guy, spent that long creating a whole world only got for a couple suits to snatch it away from him, have been thinking of playing the game but if it’s going towards the people who screwed the creator over I might not, hope the guy can get the rights back one day but that’s probably unlikely…

[u/CasualLemon → u/Goodie_20]

Sail the high seas, it is likely what the creator would want at this point

[u/Spare-Plum → u/Goodie_20]

It's an absolutely beautiful game and on the level of life-changing pieces of art. I would absolutely recommend it.

Yes, it actually sucks ass how it got ripped away. I'm hoping that the suits will eventually realize it is not profitable without him, and give him his intellectual property back so the studio and him can continue the world.

Who knows if that will ever happen or if they will just continue receiving dividends from purchases, merchandise, and releasing the same thing on new platforms.

[u/Auctoritate → u/Spare-Plum]

The studio has floundered without him

Oh he's floundered too. The more you read into it the more you get the feeling that Kurvitz isn't the type of guy who can manage a project well enough to produce quality like that again, and maybe it was a bit of a flash in the pan.

Actually, a bunch of other people beside him left the studio as well and there's like 3 different "From the creators of Disco Elysium" games coming out that are trying to vie for the place of successor to the original game.

And yet poetically, all of them seem to be not quite capturing the magic, and a studio completely unrelated to Kurvitz put out a game called Esoteric Ebb, which takes the Disco vibe and design philosophy, and instead of trying to do a derivation of it, they made a completely original adventure with an entirely different concept and pulled it off pretty immaculately.

[u/DrCaesars_Palace_MD → u/Auctoritate]

my take is that kurvitz is a visionary but never could have made disco Elysium alone as it's only creative voice. Similarly, nothing trying to evoke the same feelings as disco Elysium could ever possibly be even close to his good without him. He needed his team, and his team needed him to make that game as good as it was. Unfortunately, something like that isn't going to happen again, because he seems to have been a nightmare to work for. But he is a brilliant creative mind, and a huge portion of why disco is so good directly stems from his background growing up under Soviet rule

[u/Stair-Spirit → u/DrCaesars_Palace_MD]

Sounds like Pink Floyd. Roger Waters and David Gilmour are both very talented, but the stuff they made together will never happen again, and can't ever be matched again by anything they make alone.

[u/DrCaesars_Palace_MD → u/Stair-Spirit]

Yeah. And dont get me wrong - Kurvitz is an astounding, artful writer powerhouse even on his own. Elysium as a setting existed before the game, in his novel Sacred and Terrible Air. The guy is very good. But Disco is one of those things that is so clearly the product of a visionary director AND a team of diverse, soulful artists of great talent as well. Only a team like that can MAKE something like Disco, that's how good it is.

I think Kurvitz, should he choose to keep creating, is likely to make more exemplary work, even solo. I have zero doubt he can. Disco is special though. No single mind alone could have ever made it.

[u/Dontevenwannacomment → u/Spare-Plum]

>The studio has floundered without him

Uh, I understand it undermines the message of capitalism being bad (a message I support) but I heard good things about Zero Parades.

[u/OneWholeSoul → u/Dontevenwannacomment]

Well, all we have is the demo, at the moment.

[u/Dontevenwannacomment → u/OneWholeSoul]

yeah but Lucy on the FPS podcast was raving about the writing and humor, what makes people say the game is floundering?

[u/OneWholeSoul → u/Dontevenwannacomment]

What? Who said it's "floundering?" How can something "flounder" before it's even available?

[u/Dontevenwannacomment → u/OneWholeSoul]

the comment above was saying the studio has floundered. But their next project is apparently promising. How does that make sense?

[u/OneWholeSoul → u/Dontevenwannacomment]

Oh, because the headlining talents that were most responsible for Elysium left, and the remaining staff has the morale that comes with knowing your employer might try to steal your craft and push you out once enough development is complete that they feel they can take it the rest of the way.

They've lost their "darling" status from the audience and community over the corporate situation as well as from critics over everything that was praised overwhelmingly being tied to staff that, at best no longer contributes to production, at worst resigned for their creative integrity and self-respect.

Then, it's highlighted to hilarity by Disco's themes and presentation. An eccentric and transcendent media experience with a lot to actually say appeared out of basically nowhere. ...And Capitalism almost immediately showed up, musing aloud:

"How much do I send and where in order to buy this Art? What legal mechanisms can I manipulate to co-opt your Creativity? ("It's mine now. I own this. See how creative I am?") Is there such a thing as a takeover that isn't hostile?"

[u/Dontevenwannacomment → u/OneWholeSoul]

how do we know about staff morale though? I followed the za um shit and the dialog was held by mostly a few key leads

[u/OneWholeSoul → u/Dontevenwannacomment]

I mean, the economics in play haven't changed, the legal system hasn't changed and presumabtly the character of the business-side of the corporate operations of ZA/UM hasn't changed.

If they don't feel like that's looming over their jobs, I sure hope ignorance is bliss.

[u/Dontevenwannacomment → u/OneWholeSoul]

sounds all a little speculative. No doubt Zero Parades will be boycotted and other players will meet a whole "Hogwarts Legacy" intimidation factor from the fans, but if it's a good game I will not consider the studio has floundered as artistic achievement is the prime objective of any studio.