Future Of Doctor Who Games In Doubt
November 07, 2013
The BBC just can't seem to find a video game developer that can do justice to its long-running sci-fi television series Doctor Who. Following tepid reviews of the last Who game, last year's The Eternity Clock for the Sony PlayStation 3, PS Vita, and PC, BBC has parted ways with Eternity developer Supermassive Games. The planned story trilogy of which Eternity kicked off will go unresolved. Polygon has the news:
BBC confirmed with Polygon that the two remaining Doctor Who games slated for development under Supermassive have been canceled.
Paul Joffe, vice president of digital entertainment and games at the BBC, said that no further Eternity Clock games went into development, nor would they. Joffe did not comment on what studios the BBC may be partnering with on future Doctor Who video games, not did he offer comment on Eternity Clock's poor reception. He added that while the relationship between BBC and Supermassive "was and continues to be good," the company has no more projects in the pipeline with Supermassive.
"We will not be releasing any further Eternity Clock games, nor did any other go into production," Joffe said. "We also have no current work with Supermassive. We do have Doctor Who games in the pipeline and we will be announcing these in due course."
It's unfortunate, as Eternity Clock had its rough parts but was a decent enough kickoff point for a series of Who games. With the Who franchise moving on to the arrival of the new Twelfth Doctor later this year and the departure of Matt Smith from the starring role, I'm not surprised that the BBC is ready to move on. Sadly, the corporation is focusing on the mobile market for future games which is a major disappointment. Who needs a big budget Batman: Arkham Asylum treatment with top quality talent behind it. It needs full voice acting and animated cutscenes. It needs a stellar story above all else, too. The BBC seems to want to spend as little money as possible on their Who games, but if they want to make a fantastic one, they're going to have to open their wallets and bring in a studio with the talent and vision to see the project through.