Turtle Rock, the creative minds behind Left 4 Dead and Evolve, has announced its new IP to be a co-operative shooter peppered with elements of dark fantasy. It’ll be released by way of Perfect World Entertainment, the free-to-play publisher behind Neverwinter.
Word comes by way of GamesIndustry.biz, where Turtle Rock Co-Founder Phil Robb stated that the studio is “focusing on what we do best,” by crafting a title that will seemingly come packing “heart-pounding, moment-to-moment online co-op FPS action.” A 2018 release date is the current target, and the as-yet-untitled game will be built on Unreal Engine. Steve Goldstein, General Manager and President at the studio, went on to tease the core premise.
“There will be plenty of baddies to shoot up but it is not a ‘zombie game’ or anything post-apocalyptic. What we can say right now is there’s a strong dark fantasy element to it.”
Referencing Evolve‘s transition to free-to-play, Goldstein strongly suggested that Turtle Rock’s latest creative endeavour will adopt a similar business model come release as it opens up a dialog with the players.
“With a service-based title we can react to players’ behavior instantly. If we see something that players don’t like, we can modify it in the next patch. Same goes for things that users are enjoying or playstyles that we didn’t anticipate. With Evolve: Stage 2 we were releasing an update every week with changes to the game that were based on our users’ reactions. We expect to implement this process at the outset on our new title.
“To us, boxed product is like a speech, a developer is telling something to its audience and they have to listen. With free-to-play, it’s a conversation and we love that dialog with our players.”
With no mention of platforms, it’s still early, early days on Turtle Rock’s new project. A free-to-play model seems likely, given Perfect World’s involvement, but you can leave your own estimations down below nonetheless.
[Source: GamesIndustry.biz]
