Ubi pulls I Am Alive from Darkworks
Ubi Shanghai brought in to hit deadline.
Ubisoft has pulled its original disaster game I Am Alive from developer Darkworks and taken the project in-house, GamesIndustry.biz reports.
The game was announced at E3 last year and expected to release this spring, but had been delayed until the financial year ending March 2010.
"In order to respect the new launch date for this ambitious title, and Darkworks having other obligations, we have mutually decided to complete development of I Am Alive at Ubisoft Shanghai, as the two studios have collaborated on aspects of the title over the past year," said Ubisoft in a statement.
"The team at Darkworks has respected its contractual obligations on the project and will be a part of the success of the game when it launches."
In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz last year, Darkworks' CEO Antoine Villette described a good working relationship with Ubisoft, revealing that the publisher puts considerable pressure on new intellectual properties.
"It has been a long time we have been working with them and, as an external developer, we have been treated well," he said.
"For Ubisoft, for original IP it is very aggressive. They are quite willing to take risks and they deserve some applause for that. They have as much original IP as they do sequels but I think that's fair."