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Factor 5 Moves Away From GameCube Development
Thanks to IGN Cube for its article discussing Star Wars: Rebel Strike developer Factor 5's official confirmation that they won't develop any more GameCube titles - apparently, "The studio is currently creating software for other platforms", and, although formerly having very close ties to Nintendo, "at the Game Developers Conference 2004 [Factor 5 president Julian] Eggebrecht was spotlighted as one of the studio heads very keen on Sony PSP development."
Factor 5 is stopping development on *all* current-generation consoles, not just the Gamecube.
For the second time in as many days, a GameCube-exclusive studio has revealed it is developing games for other consoles. Yesterday, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes creator Silicon Knights announced the end of its second-party deal with Nintendo, but stressed it was still on good terms with the publisher.
Today, similar noises could be heard emanating from the offices of San Rafael, CA-based Factor 5. Word leaked today that the creator of the Rogue Squadron series--the GameCube's premiere Star Wars franchise--had ceased development for the console. Even though Factor 5 was technically not second-party developer--"We've never been a Nintendo shop," president Julian Eggebrecht told GameSpot--the studio was perceived as such. Its last non-Nintendo game was 1999's Star Wars: Rogue Squadron 3D for the PC.
However, Eggebrecht was quick to dispel any "doom" that might surround Factor 5's announcement. Echoing Silicon Knights founder Denis Dyack, he emphasized his enthusiasm for Nintendo's future console efforts. "We are extremely excited about both DS and GCNext, so any talk of us abandoning Nintendo platforms altogether is just not true," he told GameSpot.
According to Eggebrecht, the only reason Factor 5 has stopped making GameCube games was that they've abandoned current-generation hardware altogether. "It is simply because we have moved into next-generation development," he said.
As for which future console Factor 5 was creating games for, Eggebrecht was unspecific, saying only "there might be a surprise [announcement] coming from us."
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Man, I hate the media spinning stuff like this into gloom-and-doom Nintendo stories.
Uh... you are WRONG. From the Gamespot story about this - "According to Eggebrecht, the only reason Factor 5 has stopped making GameCube games was that they've abandoned current-generation hardware altogether. "It is simply because we have moved into next-generation development," he said."
"Armed forces abroad are of little value unless there is prudent counsel at home" - Cicero
Only sort of. The real core software for Factor 5 is their MusyX middleware. As this is reasonably stable on the current platforms, and their Star Wars games could do with a rest for a year or two, they are now concentrating purely on building up middleware solutions for XNA and the other next-gen platforms.
So no more Gamecube games, but no PS2 or XBox ones either.
"I Know You Are But What Am I?"
As usual, IGN is slightly off the mark. According to GameSpot's article, Factor 5 isn't just moving on to "other platforms", which most people would reasonably identify as the PlayStation 2 or the Xbox. Instead, they're moving onto the next round of console and/or portable systems.
According to Eggebrecht, the only reason Factor 5 has stopped making GameCube games was that they've abandoned current-generation hardware altogether. "It is simply because we have moved into next-generation development," he said.
Their "news" is perhaps the most slanted single-report I have ever read or heard in my life. In fact, they used the same type of slanted title with the Silicon Knights story, which they headlined "Silicon Knights breaks up with Nintendo," which would give the impression that they were jumping ship, and it did. Except Silicon Knights isn't leaving Nintendo, and Factor 5 isn't halting relationships with Nintendo or jumping ship, either.
Silicon Knights went 3rd party, and Factor 5 has halted production for all three current generation consoles (They did say they were working on games for the other systems a couple of months back). It doesn't take a genius to see it: Factor 5 is shifting it's focus to next-generation hardware development, not abandoning Nintendo.
It's no wonder Nintendo has a bad image, with the media slanting press releases and news articles the way they've been doing it, I'm amazed they even call themselves GC news sites.
I wish the media would get off of Nintendo's backs. Maybe then, the gaming community would, too.