Yesterday, several sources such as Eurogamer and Joystiq were reporting layoffs at Gameforge, the folks making the Star Trek-based browser game, Star Trek: Infinite Space. Reports state the layoffs at around 100 people, and I personally hope they all find jobs soon. Regardless, there’s now a note on the Infinite Space site regarding the state of the game, that states:
What that means for the game is that the plans for the Beta are currently on pause until further notice while we explore the options for a co-publishing partnership. For the time being, nothing will change. When we know for sure what the future holds for us, we will keep you informed.
I’ll totally be keeping an eye on this story for any updates. Hopefully Gameforge can get things settled and move onto making a great Star Trek game.
I am not happy to hear about this, not at all — but why do all Star Trek games lately have to focus on ship-to-ship combat? You can do that with any old license, and it's such a small part of what Star Trek is about. Roddenberry would be whirling in his grave.
While I'm never happy to hear people are losing their jobs I have to confess to a (probably pathological) level of hate for all these game companies that snap up licenses and churn out combat simulators that are just a shadow of what the series represented. I've got no problem with combat simulators per se, but is it really impossible to capture the spirit of what Trek was? I really wish they'd just develop under their own unique IP, say like EVE Online, instead of trying to mine a fanbase (look at the upcoming X-Com game as yet another example of this).
@ Pogue Mahone— hahaha… Wow! Same thought at about the same time!
I'm sure it's much easier to make ship to ship combat the core because combat in general is a very well understood game interaction with a low barrier to entry. It would be nice to see more focus on diplomacy, alliances, exploration and world building.
Hahaha, nice guys!
Yeah, I too would love to see a Star Trek game that focused more on exploration, diplomacy, research and so on, but sadly we'll likely never get that. Sigh. I also doubt any of these games can do better than Starfleet Command in the combat area.
It wouldn't be a mega blockbuster seller without huge space combat, but I do think a game that stayed true to what Star Trek is could sell. But I agree that we will likely never see such a game.
Sadly yeah. I mean combat should be an ELEMENT of the game, sure, but I'd also love to see more diverse missions in a Star Trek game. I think the closest we got to this was the 25th Anniversary game, or maybe even the old textual adventure games.
Hey dudes, just read a pretty good article on Rock, Paper, Shotgun and I thought of this thread, link here:
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/11/06/cardbo…
Pretty cool, a Trek game with adventure elements! Granted it's a boardgame but we're all equal opportunity geeks here, right?
Whoops, posted that with my real name. Sorry if this gets confusing, having all these internet handles.
Hahaha, no worries. :) Not much into board games though for some reason, unless they link to a pen and paper RPG like Heavy Gear. :)
Actually though, that game looks fucking cool.