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Paradox Puts Runemaster On Ice As Publisher Opts To ‘Freeze’ Development
At Gamescom, Paradox announced that its Norse mythology based tactical game Runemaster was headed for PlayStation 4. Unfortunately, that’s not to be, as the game’s development has been halted.
The news was announced on the company’s forums by chief operating officer Susana Meza Graham. “After much internal debate we have made the decision to freeze development of the project until further notice and move the development team working on it to other projects within Paradox Development Studio,” she writes.
Graham explains that the title was re-envisioned a number of times, but didn’t come together has planned. “This was not an easy decision to make - Runemaster was a very ambitious project for us, and the team working on it brought all of their passion, dedication, and talent to the table,” she writes. “Despite our best efforts and a couple of re-scopes, Runemaster in its current form was unable to live up to the standards we set for ourselves here at Paradox.”
The publisher hopes to retain all members of the team, tasking them with other projects. Paradox also announced a game called Hollowpoint at Gamescom, also headed for PlayStation 4 and PC. You can read more about the ill-fated Runemaster in our Gamescom preview.
Our Take
While we were aware of Runemaster prior to Paradox abandoning the project, it’s important to remember that there are far more games that never even get this far. Canceling an ill-fated project isn’t easy because of staffing reassignments (or layoffs) and the fallacy of sunk cost, but often it’s the right call. A canceled bad game is far better than one that limps out the door.
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