The Arkane Studios and Valve co-developed title, The Crossing, is officially on hold. According to statements made to Joystiq, the Arkane team ran into some funding issues and had to postpone the development of the title.
The issue with funds is apparently a result of some of the cut backs EA had to make back in November of 2008. The specifics of how the EA cutbacks led to funding being cut back on The Crossing aren't known, but it's speculated that EA was to publish the retail release of the game. Given the economic crunch going on, it is entirely possible that funding from the publisher was cut back until some point in the future.
Hit the jump for a bit of a refresher on what The Crossing was all about, plus the old trailer released for the game.<!--more-->
"We ran into an unexpected financial challenge some months ago and we had to put The Crossing on hold," Raphael Colantonio, CEO and creative director of Arkane Studios, told us. "Since then, we shifted our efforts to other very good projects." Two of those projects are reportedly underway at Arkane's Austin studio, an FPS RPG and a "casual strategy game" for the iPhone, under the direction of Deus Ex-alum Harvey Smith.
The issue with funds is apparently a result of some of the cut backs EA had to make back in November of 2008. The specifics of how the EA cutbacks led to funding being cut back on The Crossing aren't known, but it's speculated that EA was to publish the retail release of the game. Given the economic crunch going on, it is entirely possible that funding from the publisher was cut back until some point in the future.
Hit the jump for a bit of a refresher on what The Crossing was all about, plus the old trailer released for the game.<!--more-->
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The game design will attempt to merge aspects of single player and multiplayer in what the article is calling "cross-play", all based around a storyline that centers on the city of Paris that has fallen into disarray following the collapse of the French government. There's also jumping between parallel universes to a world where in the Middle Ages the Knights Templar did not disban and have in fact taken control of the government.
The merging of single and multiplayer in The Crossing happens when "story players" (either by themselves or in co-op mode) suddenly switch over to fight live "skirmish players". Skirmish players can also go into story missions, taking over enemies that normally would be controlled by a game's AI. Arkane Studios is apparently planning to control the game's servers for players of The Crossing to assure that the mixing of single and multiplayer matches is seemless. There are hints about unlockable content in The Crossing for players that participate in these kinds of matches.
The merging of single and multiplayer in The Crossing happens when "story players" (either by themselves or in co-op mode) suddenly switch over to fight live "skirmish players". Skirmish players can also go into story missions, taking over enemies that normally would be controlled by a game's AI. Arkane Studios is apparently planning to control the game's servers for players of The Crossing to assure that the mixing of single and multiplayer matches is seemless. There are hints about unlockable content in The Crossing for players that participate in these kinds of matches.