Alien: Rogue Incursion is out now on PS VR2 and PS5, but it’s just Part One of a two-part story. Part Two will be out sometime later, though this Part One/Part Two split is not what players thought they were getting when they hit pre-order.
In fact, you’d have only known this was Part One of a two-part story going in if you bought the game right at launch – because developer Survios didn’t change the branding around the game until launch day. In fact, the most the studio has acknowledged the change (at time of writing) is still just on the game’s digital storefront pages across platforms, and in its Discord server. Players have not taken the news well, particularly on Steam.
Now though, in a statement sent to PSU from Survios’ chief product officer, TQ Jefferson, we finally hear a more official word, and an apology.
Jefferson apologizes for misleading players regarding the split, and puts the decision around making it a Part One/Part Two split into context from the studio’s perspective a little bit more. You can see the full statement, below.
“We are excited to tell a story with Alien: Rogue Incursion that can stretch beyond this first standalone game. It was never our intention to mislead the fans by revealing that the story would continue, and for that, we apologize.
We always thought we had a compelling game, but after initial early gameplay feedback, our confidence grew. We went from ‘we think there’s more to tell here,’ to ‘we know there’s more to tell.’ Part One is a standalone adventure which ends with a cliffhanger, and we wanted fans to know that there would be more on the horizon, so we decided to confirm Part Two alongside the launch.
We’re all massive fans of Alien, and Zula in particular. Work is already underway for Part Two, and we look forward to sharing more with you in 2025!”
Even with this statement, it’s still difficult to ascertain why the Part One/Part Two split was announced in this way. Fans were mislead not because they were introduced to the notion that Survios’ story with Zula might continue, they were mislead because it was revealed more like how Ubisoft launches its NFT games – hoping no one notices.
Of course it’s exciting for players who are enjoying Alien: Rogue Incursion to learn that there will be more to this story, and likely new gameplay features in a coming Part Two.
So why wasn’t the news not shared earlier? Or perhaps even months after launch, after players have been left with this cliffhanger, thinking ‘Well surely there will be a Part Two based on how that ended,’ only to be delighted when it is finally announced?
Either would have been better than uploading the new banner photo on the game’s various store pages across digital storefronts and then only responding to the barrage of questions from players in a Discord server, and saying nothing on the studio’s socials, blog, or in another more public venue.
Now, that lack of communication and near silence is what has mislead and upset players. Even with the most generous read of why the Part One/Part Two announcement unfolded like this, it is fundamentally a failure of communication on Survios’ part.
For something that’s pretty mundane, no less. Plenty of studios have figured out that they want to get going on a sequel before the first game releases. Plenty start to work on that sequel well before the first game will launch.
Jefferson’s statement makes it sound like that very common, very mundane practice occurred here. It’s puzzling as to why Survios couldn’t figure out how to communicate it then, when studios have been able to announce sequels, without apologizing for them existing, for years.
Source – [Survios]