Guillermo del Toro's InSane - Cancelled by THQ

[CeeKay]

this could be interesting.  granted, it sounds like we'll have to wait 3 years but I'm liking his collaboration with The Strain, maybe this could turn out to be a good game based off that concept.

[EngineNo9]

I bet it is the new MX vs ATV game! 

[CeeKay]

I bet it is the new MX vs ATV game! 

Monster Xerox's vs Affable Terminator Velociraptors?

[Blackjack]

I thought maybe Guillermo would produce a "The Hobbit" videogame, such irony that would be... 

[morlac]

I bet it is the new MX vs ATV game! 

Monster Xerox's vs Affable Terminator Velociraptors?

I'd play that.

[Space Herpes]

"(Left 4 Dead) is a family game in our household.  My two daughters are my wing-men."
That is so awesome.  I always worry when games and movies come together.  At least I know del Toro plays games and has good taste.

[CeeKay]

the title is Insane, and it's still due in 2013.

[edit]uninformative teaser.

[metallicorphan]

well this is disappointing

THQ Cancels Del Toro's Insane

THQ has cancelled work on horror game Insane and given all rights back to film director Guillermo del Toro.

The company announced the news in an investor call today.

Insane, originally slated as a trilogy, was first announced by THQ and del Toro back in 2010. Del Toro had been working on the series with Saints Row studio Volition.

In recent weeks we had heard that development of the game had been moved from Saint's Row studio Volition to Canada, some time closer to the New Year, but we were never able to confirm it. If that was correct, it was apparently a last attempt before the game was axed.

This is the second big game cancellation for the struggling publisher, which announced earlier this year that it would also not be publishing Tomonobu Itagaki's Devil's Third.

Maybe someone else can pick it up like Sleeping Dogs was,as i was quite interested in it

[EngineNo9]

Not really surprising given THQ's financial state and no sight of this game publicly yet.  I was more surprised that we didn't hear this a while ago.  I highly doubt an expensive horror game would bring them the returns they really need.

[TiLT]

Not really surprising given THQ's financial state and no sight of this game publicly yet.  I was more surprised that we didn't hear this a while ago.  I highly doubt an expensive horror game would bring them the returns they really need.

Yeah, I would be careful about putting the blame on the quality of the game at this point. This seems pretty much exclusively like an economic decision.

[CeeKay]

Not really surprising given THQ's financial state and no sight of this game publicly yet.  I was more surprised that we didn't hear this a while ago.  I highly doubt an expensive horror game would bring them the returns they really need.

Yeah, I would be careful about putting the blame on the quality of the game at this point. This seems pretty much exclusively like an economic decision.

apparently they were still in pre-production:

"We have decided not to pursue further pre-production on Insane, and have returned all of our IP rights to Guillermo del Toro," said Rubin. "By canceling these explorations outside of our core business, we feel we can improve focus on our core game portfolio, which remains unchanged."

[metallicorphan]

Seems it's back on,with a "mystery dev studio"

CVG

Acclaimed film director Guillermo del Toro has signed the trilogy of Insane games to a mystery development studio, a new report suggests.

The expensive and ambitious project had been cancelled by embattled publisher THQ in August but the rights were transferred back to the Pan's Labyrinth director in the process.

Now, according to film website Bloody Disgusting, del Toro is believed to have signed with another games studio to continue working on the trilogy.

The cancellation has delayed the Insane project even further, with a "2015" release date penciled in.

Del Toro had originally been working on the project in a consultant capacity at Saints Row: The Third developer Volition. He has not personally confirmed a new deal, though in October said he was pitching it to various studios.

"The game was cut months ago, and now we are talking to developers," he said.

"When some thing doesn't happen in one way, I just continue to pursue it in another way. I'm not giving up on Insane, it's truly beautiful."

Del Toro also claimed that the dream partner for Insane would be PC games kingpin Valve, having revealed he is a huge fan of the company's work. Ellen McClain, the voice of GLaDOS from the Portal series, will be heard as the voice of an AI in Del Toro's next feature film.

[kronovan]

I for one am glad THQ is no longer behind it and del Toro has found another studio. IMO THQ is amongst the top, worst managed game publishers in the biz. About the only good about them is that they've been the $ behind Relic entertainment. Still, I'm sure the Relic employees who got axed last spring would love to see their former employer crawl out from under the steaming pile of THQ crap.

Kudos to del Toro for getting a 2nd chance on this.

[Turtle]

Yeah, you know something is just really f'ed up at that publisher when you can't turn a profit despite having such good studios and titles under your banner.

In other news, there's reports that THQ has gotten a financial backer, but also that their CFO has resigned, so that's probably good news overall that someone else is stepping in, sounds like they're taking a lot of control too.

[tcweidner]

strange days indeed for game publishers.