Fans were saddened to learn today that production of the Stargate video game has halted just two months before the scheduled release data. From the JoWood press release (JoWood):
Rottenmann, Austria, 5th of August 2005; JoWooD regrets to be forced to cancel the development agreement with Perception, the Australian developer currently responsible for the Stargate-SG1: The Alliance™ license title. “The title in its current form, initially scheduled for an October 2005 release, does satisfy neither our quality requirements nor the fans expectations. We will not release anything that does not do justice to this well known license” says Albert Seidl, CEO JoWooD Productions Software AG. “In recent months we have invested a lot of time and resources in helping Perception finish the development, but we now simply have lost confidence in their ability to finish this project in time and sufficient quality.”
Following the termination JoWooD has asked for repayment of their investment in development and further expenses.
According to our reading of the contract the rights to the title as well as the source code are transferred to JoWooD. “After delivery of the code and assets JoWooD will review the possibility of seeking out developers if it is economically viable to finish the title” reports Michael Paeck, Executive Producer for JoWooD Productions Software AG. “We are, however, not prepared to release anything but a top quality title. Fans of the show as well as gamers would not accept anything less. There are several options to consider, among them potentially moving to next-gen consoles for the title.”
This is sad news for fans who had looked forward to the game, especially because it was to be voiced by the SG-1 actors. Michael Shanks mentioned at a convention that he and his colleagues, including RDA, had recorded on the order of 250 pages of dialog for the game. Since Shanks and Chris Judge had both expressed their anticipation at being able to play the game themselves with their children, no doubt they are disappointed as well. We hope JoWood will be able to find a new developer quickly.
Thanks to Elyse of the sg1_spoilme list for the tip