Embattled developer Silicon Knights removed its Too Human action role-playing game from Microsoft’s Xbox Live Marketplace.
This action is due to a court decision that compels the studio to destroy all unsold copies of Too Human, X-Men Destiny, and a handful of unreleased titles. Where once the Xbox page for Too Human had the full game, a demo, some Gamer Pics, and some Themes, now only the manual remains.
In November, the years-long case between Silicon Knight and Gears of War developer Epic Games resulted in the Too Human studio having to pay more than $4.5 million to Epic. The judge in the case also ordered that Silicon Knights destroy all materials that used Epic’s Unreal Engine technology, which the company did not have a license to implement.
A court investigation discovered hundreds of lines of code in all of Silicon Knights’ recent games that they directly lifted from Epic’s graphics engine.
Silicon Knights was, at one point, a beloved developer. Fans consider Eternal Darkness, the studio’s survival thriller game for the Nintendo GameCube, as one of that system’s best titles for mature gamers.
Anticipation for Too Human was high prior to its 2008 release. The developer reportedly worked on the game for nearly 10 years. Silicon Knights originally revealed it as an game for the original PlayStation. It then canceled that project and attempted to move it to the GameCube before finally releasing it for the Xbox 360.
Critics and fans were lukewarm toward Too Human after its release. Many cited its repetitive gameplay and many technical issues in their disappointment.
The gameplay and story failed, in the opinion of many, to live up to the hype set by Silicon Knights’ outspoken president, Dennis Dyack. Who once told then Electronic Gaming Montly editor Mark MacDonald that he would regret calling the game terrible in a preview.
Source: Eurogamer