Det har funnits flera stora fiaskon senaste åren, men kollapsen kring MindsEye från Build a Rocket Boy är utan tvekan en av de värsta. Spelet var tekniskt katastrofalt vid lanseringen och istället för att bara ta på sig detta skyllde en av cheferna att detta berodde på "organised espionage and corporate sabotage" från okända aktörer.
Detta kom samtidigt som flera märkliga beslut och uttalanden gjordes av andra chefer på studion, såsom att hävda att utvecklarna var "lazy and incompetent", medan anställda själva hävdade att projektet hade varit "plagued from the start". Det blev ett sammanbrott av episka proportioner.
Nu närmar vi oss sakta spelets första årsdag, och Mark Gerhard, vd och teknikchef hos Build a Rocket Boy, har pratat med GamesBeat om titeln och gjort flera uppseendeväckande erkännanden samtidigt som han målar upp en hoppfull plan för framtiden:
"We're very excited about this next chapter. We know we had, without doubt, the worst launch in history. And obviously there's many reasons for that, but we are planning to relaunch our game now that the interference has stopped. The game is being very well-reviewed. The sales are increasing organically, doubling almost weekly.
All of that's very positive. We like being able to control our own destiny as an independent studio. We want to be close to our players. We want to be listening to the community and evolving their game in an organic way."
När det gäller spionage- och sabotageanklagelserna sade Mark Gerhard att "we were kind of caught flat-footed on that. We didn't counter the negative narrative. We weren't sophisticated enough to have done that. But, we're aware. We've called that out. Some of the negativity has been orchestrated around this, and thankfully, as a result, it stopped."
Mark Gerhard fortsatte:
"We've got very strong evidence of this and conducted quite thorough investigations over the months since launch. We've identified parties involved, and it's now with the authorities both U.K. and U.S. to deal with. I can confirm that they're assisting us with this investigation, but it's also in their hands now. We'll leave them to do what they do, make their arrests or any announcements in due course. I think we're not saying anything further at this stage on that. We'll just let the natural course of justice take its path."
Prestandaproblemen och buggarna var dock inte ett resultat av detta, och Mark Gerhard sade att de var "on us" och att "we own that as a leadership team and as a studio".
Nu väntar en lång väg framåt för MindsEye, som brutit med sin utgivare IO Interactive och står inför utmaningen att återvinna förtroendet hos en spelarbas som redan blivit djupt svikna.
