Rumors are spreading through the internet that the long-awaited Stargate SG-1: The Alliance video game has finally be cancelled, its development halted by Perception Ltd. because MGM refused to approve a contract with a new publisher.
There has been no official confirmation of this rumor. There is a message first posted here at onlinegamer-fr.com, that purports to be from one of the game’s developers:
As many of you know, for the last year and a half I’ve been on the development team at Perception in Sydney, working on the title “Stargate SG-1: The Alliance”. Many of you also know the legal trouble and the falling out we had with ex-publisher JoWood back in August last year. Since then we have been trying to secure a new publisher for the game.
For the last couple of months, we have had several good offers from interested publishers. They only needed one thing – MGM’s approval. Since MGM are the owners of the Stargate license, everything needs to be approved by them, even new publisher contracts. So, when we approached MGM about these contracts…MGM basically sat on their hands and did nothing. They didn’t flat out say no, but they didn’t say yes either. They expressed concerns with areas of the game. We addressed those concerns. Still no publisher approval. We showed them other offers from publishers, and that said publishers were asking for more information on the license. Did MGM provide it? No, even though contractually they were supposed to.
In the end it was pretty obvious MGM wanted the project canned for some reason that eludes everyone except them, but they didn’t want to be the ones to do it. So, they just sat on their hands and did nothing for several months, to the point where Perception could not afford to keep working on the game knowing that they didn’t have MGM’s approval, and will probably never get it. Developers need publishers to fund the creation of a game. Without the publisher, the developer gets no income. Without MGM’s approval, Perception couldn’t sign a publisher. So the equation is pretty simple. There’s only so long a developer can hold on financially without publisher backing.
As of about Friday the 20th of January 2006, at about 1pm Sydney time, the title “Stargate SG-1: The Alliance” was terminated for all SKU’s. This also means the entire development team was “let go”. I am now out of a job. After putting blood, sweat and tears into this thing for the last year and a half, and pulling some ridiculous hours on more occasions I can count, it’s all for nothing.
My experience in game development is now three titles, two of which were never released, and one that was but I wasn’t credited for because I left the company before they finished it. Go me!
We expect MGM to make an official press release about this sometime next week. If they won’t then Perception will probably issue one.
In the meantime, I ask you guys to keep this information to yourselves. This is an exclusive scoop for you I know, but until it is “officially” announced in a press release by either MGM or Perception, please don’t spread it around. I’m trusting you guys on this.Thanks a lot MGM, you bunch of complete prats. Go screw yourselves.
If what is reported by this person is true, it is a shame, not only for fans who have been eagerly awaiting the game, but also for the cast and crew of the show. Peter DeLuise wrote the script for the game, and all of the original cast, including Richard Dean Anderson, read the script for use as the audio.
We hope MGM is forthcoming with an official statement soon.