You might have read some pretty bad news about Factor 5, developer of games such as Lair or Rogue Squadron (and Leader), but it seems that most of it was one big misunderstanding. Sam Baker, an animator working for them, was quoted saying that the company was having serious financial troubles, and that several of their current projects were at risk, if not already canceled. Sam Baker has since updated his blog with new information, claiming that the situation is really not so bad after all, and that no projects have been canceled. Here's the story, in his own words.
Steve Watts of 1UP wrote that I said Factor 5 cut one of their main projects, a comic book superhero game, and that’s a complete lie. It was a big story in the news that we recently lost a publisher, Brash Entertainment, when they went out of business. This does not mean that we’ve stopped production on that game, or that it was ever even in trouble. The other projects currently under way at Factor 5 are doing great.
Well, as a fan of Factor 5's games -- even though Lair wasn't their best effort -- I certainly hope they'll keep making new experiences for us to delve into, especially now that they're working for a Nintendo console, since their best titles were created during similar circumstances. Rock on!
[Editor's Note: Though Sam Baker has taken down his blog, the evidence of his backpedaling remains in Google's cache, at NeoGAF, and now -- with brilliant Jean-Luc Picard images -- here at GameCyte. Though Baker's original blog post was little better than rumor at the time it first hit the web, the fact that it and Baker's new statement directly contradict does not bode well, I believe, for the future of Alex's beloved Factor 5.
GameCyte notes that the last time an insider blogged that their company was going down the tank, "a mug of hot chocolate, a few hours of gaming, and a good night's sleep" didn't change that fact.]
Update 8:33PM PST: Also conspicuously missing? The 1UP post that Sam Baker took offense to. Removed in the last 20 minutes, by our watch, but you still find it at Evil Avatar. Since invisible retractions are kind of a big deal on the web, we don't expect it to be gone for long... in a matter of hours, it will probably reappear with an update.
December 7th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
Ah, man, I should have searched further before getting optimistic. His response seemed so sincere... Perhaps he was overreacting in that blog post?