Patrice Desilets is still locked in a fierce battle with Ubisoft over control of his game 1666: Amsterdam. One thing he is having trouble wrapping his head around is — according to a report from Polygon — what happens if he wins.
Development on the game was underway for two years at THQ Montreal before Ubisoft bought the studio and fired Desilets (who previously worked for Ubisoft and is credited with creating Assassin’s Creed). Desilets maintains that he has a contractual right to purchase the game back from Ubisoft and complete its development. Ubisoft claim that any contracts signed with THQ are non-binding and void.
Scant details regarding 1666: Amsterdam have seen the light of day, but it is thought to be an historic RPG.
Desilets — speaking with GamesIndustry — admits that “It would be difficult to do 1666 as an independent studio of 12 people” but wonders if 1666: Amsterdam could “maybe go episodic, like The Walking Dead”. That way he says “you don’t need $100 million. You can do it for $15 million and see if there’s a public for it out there.”
Desilets says the episodic model is appealing because “you focus on making the first five [hours], and then the next, and then the next. And then, like The Walking Dead, when everything is done you can buy your disc with everything on there”, rather than having to make the entire 60 hours upfront.
Upon broaching the idea of Ubisoft squashing his challenge for the rights Desilets is hopeful, “It would be a shame, but that’s it. I’m just trying to stay positive that it will happen, and that everybody will get to play it one day, myself included. Meanwhile he claims he has “many other game ideas in my little book, and I’ll dig into that.”
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