Capcom defends dev choice for Lost Planet 3
"It's important to look at a track record, but that can't tell you the whole story."
Capcom has defended its decision to hand Lost Planet 3 to Spark Unlimited, the developers behind the critically mauled Turning Point and Legendary: The Box.
Californian outfit Spark Unlimited has been recruiting for two mysterious projects since last year, one a "franchise and genre expanding game" the other a "bold new take on the action/horror genre", leading to some speculation that it could be working on a new Resident Evil game.
It's now been revealed that one of those games is Lost Planet 3, a continuation of a series that started late in 2006.
Spark Unlimited previously worked on Call of Duty spin-off Finest Hour, though it's more famous for its brace of first-person shooters from 2008. Turning Point received a 3/10 when reviewed, while Legendary fared even worse with a 2/10. The company's current metacritic average stands at 52.
"For people who wonder why we made that choice, it's certainly important to look at a track record and what people have done in the past, but that can't tell you the whole story," Capcom's producer Andrew Szymanski told Eurogamer.
"Particularly when it comes to a collaborative effort - what we found is they've got the technical ability and the passion and the drive. I don't think Spark alone or Capcom alone could have created this - it had to be a collaborative effort."
Capcom has handed out its key franchises to western developers in the past with varying results. Swedish developers Grin's take on Bionic Commando proved a flop, while Slant Six's Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City was met with a similarly muted response - although Canadian developer Blue Castle's Dead Rising 2 earned a respectable response.