Alpha Protocol will only live once
Poor sales equal no sequel, says SEGA.
Unsurprisingly, SEGA won't be green-lighting a sequel to mediocre spy RPG Alpha Protocol.
"Let's speak very commercially," a frank SEGA West president Mike Hayes told CVG. "The game hasn't sold what we've expected, therefore we won't be doing a sequel."
Alpha Protocol was released during a competition-free period on 28th May in Europe (early June in the US). The only role-playing alternatives had been offered months earlier: Mass Effect 2, Final Fantasy XIII.
Yet even after a six-month delay, Obsidian's only ever original IP struggled to convince critics. Eurogamer eventually settled on an appropriate 007/10.
SEGA's Mike Hayes believes Alpha Protocol was "a good game" that had a "brilliant" concept. The problem, he insisted, is that RPGs have to score better than other genres to achieve a similar level of success. They're also more expensive to make due to being "naturally big projects".
All of which makes you wonder why it was ever commissioned in the first place.
Obsidian is currently developing Fallout: New Vegas for money-bags Bethesda and Dungeon Siege 3 for money-bags Square Enix.