The Tencent empire strikes back. Or, at least it would, if it was even in danger of being beaten in the first place. In recent years, the Chinese tech conglomerate’s influence has grown exponentially as they’ve applied an indiscriminate philosophy of ‘hoover up absolutely everything we can – studios, games, licenses, office toilets, whatever.’ And, to their credit, it’s worked out for them; fiscally speaking, they now rank among the most powerful forces in the gaming industry, and they have interests in (or outright ownership of) such heavy hitters as Ubisoft, Roblox, and, lately, Sumo Digital. Opinion may be divided as to their encroaching, pervasive approach, but there’s no denying they’re an entity worth keeping an eye on. A watchful, cynical, altogether paranoid eye.
Now, as Eurogamer reports, another studio has entered the Tencent fold: Inflexion Games, behind the upcoming fantasy survival game Nightingale. The Victorian-era-inspired RPG has a bit of an interesting history, initially being conceived in tandem with the software SpatialOS. What’s SpatialOS? Well… it’s tough to describe. It’s kind of a cloud platform, mixed with a game engine, that also functions as a server for online play? Nobody really knows, least of all the company that made it, Improbable; who, true their name, have struggled to define the product since its inception. Improbable bowed out of internal development last month, leaving folks curious as to the fate of Nightingale. Now that Inflexion have a new home under the Tencent brolly, it would seem progress can continue on the intriguing project.
The Inflexion connection, pre-Tencent
What’s interesting about Inflexion is that it’s headed by former BioWare boss Aaron Flynn, lending the studio a fair bit of credibility (if you happen to be playing Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic at the mo, or not, if you happen to be playing Sonic Chronicles). This makes it all the bigger of a gain for Tencent, and a drastic shift in career trajectory for Flynn.
Speaking on the changes, or indeed the lack thereof, the move away from SpatialOS’ technology has necessitated for Nightingale, Flynn had the following to say: “Nightingale will be a more intimate, single-player or small group player experience. We made that decision last summer in conjunction with some other things we want to do with the game. That was largely driven from a game design standpoint and where we want to take the game.” Most serendipitous, then.
Flynn continued: “More and more, we were investing in elements of our survival crafting experience and we made the decision that to ensure we could ship this game and not find ourselves in the very long development cycle that many MMOs do, we would walk away from those things.”
In essence, a spur of the moment course correction may have saved Inflexion from being royally scuppered when the studio changed hands and lost access to SpatialOS. It’s always nice when these things work out.
For the curious, or steampunk-affiliated, among you, Nightingale is set to go into early access, and subsequent release, this year. Don your stovepipe hats and lace up your corsets, adventurers.
What do you think of the ever-burgeoning Tencent domain? Are you interested in Nightingale? Let us know!
Via, Eurogamer.
