New Syndicate has zero input from Molyneux

15 October 2011

EA’s reboot of the 1993 RTS Syndicate is due out soon, but developer of the original game, veteran Peter Molyneux, hasn’t even seen it, despite offering his help.

Speaking to Eurogamer, art director John Miles has said that aside from the fact that a few old Bullfrog employees have been involved with the reboot, the current developer Starbreeze nor EA has made any attempt to bring in people who created the original game.

“A lot of the guys at EA Partners – which is the part of EA which has partnered with Starbreeze – are old developers, some of whom were at Bullfrog and worked with guys who were on Syndicate originally.

“I think we’ve done what we think is right with it, and what we wanted to do with it. We haven’t specifically gone out and reached for input from the original team.”

EA have certainly gone their own way with this one, not only refusing help from the original creator, but reinventing it as an FPS as well – perhaps going with what they know best.

“We talked about this a lot internally and felt like what we were doing wasn’t… we didn’t want to copy the old game,” Miles explained.

“We wanted to take the world of Syndicate, the characters, the weapons, the corporations, the Machiavellian feeling and bring it to the current audience. We felt like this was the right format.”

He also laughs off accusations that the game is very similar to Deus Ex: Human Revolution, saying it is purely coincidental and that the game “has been in development for a long time.”

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