Cliffy B talks Shadow Complex 2, ChAIR clarifies

THE BUZZ: Cliff Bleszinski let loose in an interview with Gamasutra that Shadow Complex 2, a sequel to the 2009 downloadable smash hit Shadow Complex, a side-scrolling action/adventure game akin to old-school Metroid with a conspiracy theory twist, “is sitting there, it’s actually largely designed, we just need to find a partner to help us finish it so we can bring it to market”. EGM spoke with ChAIR representative Laura Mustard in regards to Cliffy B’s statement and this was her response:

“Regarding the recent Shadow Complex 2 rumors, there’s nothing new to report. As ChAIR creative director Donald Mustard has said in the past, following the release of Shadow Complex, ChAIR did some really great design work on Shadow Complex 2 before shifting gears to develop Infinity Blade as the iOS market was quickly emerging. Given the tremendous popularity of Shadow Complex, there’s a ton of interest in a sequel and plenty more we’d like to do in that universe. We’re confident we’ll re-visit when the right opportunity presents itself.”

Epic president Mike Capps has also gone on record previously stating pretty much the same thing while also acknowledging how risky a business move it was to move ChAIR off of a proven franchise like Shadow Complex and into a new realm like iOS. Although it has clearly paid off with Infinity Blade being a huge grosser in the iOS market and as Bleszinski pointed out in the Gamasutra interview, they were looking for a flagship product in the iOS realm to begin with and thought it would have been more work to port the original Shadow Complex over.

EGM’S TAKE: Most of this may be old news, but the thing that catches your eye and has caused this maelstrom of buzz surrounding the statement is ‘largely designed’ and the fact that Epic is looking for a partner. Assuming Bleszinski means a publishing partner as clearly between ChAIR and Epic the development side of things shouldn’t be an issue, the real question is why hasn’t Microsoft, publisher of the first Shadow Complex, jumped all over it knowing how well the first did or why hasn’t Sony thrown their hat in the ring to try and steal a jewel away from Microsoft’s dominate Xbox Live Arcade? If the game is ‘largely designed’, how much longer must we wait before one of the two comes to their senses for Shadow Complex 2 to be available for download? Of course, and this is just speculation on my part, there must be other factors involved keeping this from moving forward. Or they could be holding off until just the right time to announce it, like since Gears 3 is now out of the way, maybe a Summer of Arcade 2012 slot?