After the critical bombardment of Aliens: Colonial Marines fiasco, Gearbox Software CEO Randy Pitchford is ready to move forward with the company's next two projects: A new entry in the World War II shooter franchise Brothers in Arms, and Inglorious Basterds-inspired co-op shooter Furious Four.
Pitchford, speaking with IGN at DICE last week, was clearly looking to the future even before Colonial Marines was released. Based on his interview, it seems the developer will be turning back to some games and series the developer has left dormant.
Furious Four was originally Brothers in Arms: Furious Four. A four-player co-op shooter with a set of wild and "distinctive" commandos, Gearbox dropped the connection to the serious-minded franchise after fans complained that the game misrepresented the series. Looking back now, Pitchford said he agrees with fans that Furious Four wasn't right as a Brothers in Arms game, and is better off as kicking off its own franchise:
"The gameplay iteration needed to become unhinged from what the starting point was. We were going to make another Brothers in Arms game. That was the starting point. But the design in that group just iterated and evolved into this exciting, fun kind of gameplay that we weren't doing in Brothers in Arms."
At the same time, Pitchford has no intention of leaving those Brothers in Arms fans hanging. Gearbox is apparently in the very early stages of putting together the next game in the series:
"Again, we haven't announced that yet, but I'm really excited about where that's going too," said Pitchford. "We'll announce these things in due course. There's a lot of neat things we have going on. When you're in pre-production and you're in these iterations, it's kind of reckless. I don't want to get in a spot."
Pitchford says that Brothers in Arms series publisher Ubisoft hasn't signed on to distribute the new Brothers in Arms, and will not be publishing Furious Four. It isn't clear whether or not Gearbox has found a publishing partner for the new IP.
