The sci-fi real-time strategy game Hardware: Shipbreakers, currently under development by Blackbird Interactive, is now officially a Homeworld series game. The game is now called Homeworld: Shipbreakers, and the deal was signed by Gearbox Software (best known recently by their Borderlands FPS game series) and Blackbird at the PAX event, reports Polygon.
“Hardware and Homeworld inevitably share much of the same DNA, and that’s a good thing. [And,] Gearbox is not in the best spot to make a sci-fi RTS successor. We’ve become expert at production and that’s where we can help. We’re giving them the brand and the resources to make this happen. Now, these guys are cooking and with the money they have now, they can grow the team.” -Randy Pitchford (Gearbox Software CEO)
So, after obtaining the Homeworld IP from THQ’s bankruptcy auction in April 2013, Gearbox will now “give a hand” to Blackbird to finish off, or, who knows, even improve what they had in mind for their Homeworld inspired free-to-play sci-fi RTS. Now an official Homeworld game.
So, on top of the original games re-release, and the new HD remakes, there’s also an official Homeworld sci-fi RTS game now. Paul Ruskay, composer of the original HW games’ soundtrack, is on-board. As of some of the founding members of Relic Entertainment as well, now working at Blackbird. And, they seem to have the money. Well, looks like they have it all to succeed. Make it happen guys.
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This can only be bad, Gearbox is not one I would trust with £1 let alone a promising new game style.
Well, Gearbox admits that sci-fi RTS is not their style. Seems like they’re only sponsoring this new Homeworld project and not really being an active part of the development. Time will tell though.
Looks good. Please keep us up to date on new for this one.
Don’t worry, we’ll be covering it to full extent. I already planned to. But now even more after it getting the Homeworld stamp on it.
So first the company that bought the rights to Homeworld admits that they actually know nothing about making such a game, then license that rights to another company so they can slap the Homeworld label on a completely different game they were already making. Yeah, this is really going to turn out well.
Well the company in question is made up of former Relic employees who created Homeworld. I definitely feel much better about this now.
Well okay then. Even so this looks to be another online multiplayer thing which is not the Homeworld experience I am looking for, so I’m still out.
Online multi-player?
I’m out.
Seems a lot of the Homeworld team, at least art wise, is part of Blackbird Interactive. In that regard, they may do a better job of making the game feel like Homeworld.
I am disinterested completely in free to play games though. Outside of TF2, which I spent some time with awhile back, I just don’t enjoy the F2P model.
I wasn’t interested in this game before they slapped the Homeworld name on it.
This one looks really interesting. Of course I always sucked at homeworld so I’m really hoping that this game can be slowed way down and paused. Only then will I have any hope of keeping up with the AI.
Are game designers ever going to get over their obsession with real time at all costs? Some of us stress challenged gamers like time to think.
I definitely have similar feelings towards TBS becoming more niche, but allowing you to give orders while the game is paused does help a great deal. Its not perfect, but does allow for much more contemplation than games that do not. Still I’d really love to have another epic space TBS.
My wife played a “free to play” game until I noticed that this “free” game was costing us a couple hundred dollars a month (for all the upgrades etc.) No game is more expensive than a “free” one.
I loved Homeworld, and I have nothing against Gearbox (I’m a fan of the Borderlands series) but I will steer clear of Shipbreakers.
I will never enjoy any F2P model.
I have no problem shelling out $60 and $10 for every DLC, or around $25 every expansion, but don’t give me F2P.
Especially if you are playing strategy games, where people tend to play offline. I fear that some items will be somewhat locked if you play offline (like Anno 2070).
If the game is totally online, we can still hope for Planetside 2 model (paid weapons is not better than free weapon, though paid upgrades is better than free weapons, but again, in Planetside 2 the scale is damn big that no one could be a god by buying all items).
Sadly, I won’t be buying this game.
I totally get what your saying about FTP games, so many of them take the p***, and I steer clear of most too.
But there are still some good FTP games around that don’t blackmail you into buying every upgrade.
Take Airmech for instance, nearly all upgrades that you would have to spend money on (diamonds)are just cosmetic changes, and they give you a bunch of these diamonds for free too, so you can even get a large bunch of cosmetic stuff without paying for it.
Apart from that its also very fun game and you can access all the units and strategies without spending a penny on it.
It really comes done to the business model they decide to use, and how they price stuff.
Personally if I like a FTP game I try and work out if I can play the whole thing for £25 or less (not including cosmetic stuff), if not then I don’t play it.
Count me among the not-interested-because-f2p crowd. Glad the relic-related studio got to redirect their title back to the homeworld universe, as it was fairly clearly meant to be in the first place.
Yo just so you dudes know, Shipbreakers will not be f2p now that Gearbox has given it the resources. So while it would be nice to read more comments of people rant about f2p acting like it’s something we’ve never heard before, I think I will just give you guys the Twitter link.
https://twitter.com/DuvalMagic/statuses/374575147547496448
hmm, its not quite homeworld, but its closer than anything we’ve seen in a decade.
It could be quite good, if done right, keeping the art style and most importantly the SOUNDTRACK true to the classic. Woudlnt mind to play a desperate low resource rts in a bleak desert, if the feelings right.
Though, obviosuly, A LOT could go wrong during development, however, assuming they dont fuck it up completely, it will be a must buy for me, just to saturate the melancholia I feel just thinking about Homeworld…
That’s it, need HW OST NOW, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6JZhaNWA9s