X-Rebirth: The story of the failed console game

[SteveMill]

Still, their reasons do not change the result: Rebirth in its current form is just like Sword of the Stars 2 was, a scam.

If they swallow their pride and admit to this failure that is Rebirth, we can still salvage this relationship. Trust is not easy to fix, but if they stay on track for a few years, maybe...

I think that trust has been well earned. Let's see, they sold like 14,000 copies in 5 days.

And how many are they going to sell now that people finally know it sucks?

Just checked...X-Rebirth is #5 on Steams Top Selling List...Wow...that must suck for the Nay-Sayers.

I'm one of those naysayers in that total and I want a refund. And before the thread was taken down from the steam forum on sunday there were another 400 purchasers wanting the same.

[Shagsbeard]

Sounds remarkably similar to what happened with Dungeon Siege 3.

[chanw4]

simply have xbox reference doesn't means the game is designed for xbox. They are designing a new engine and as with many other companies, they will explore for options.

http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=351904

This must be another evidence that the game is designed for xbox originally! not. Please keep your conspiracy to yourself. Because God forbid developers seek for 'options'.

[RWolf]

If the X series starts going on consoles, it will be the end of the series as you know it.

Dont forget, some genres are platform specific, the moment you try to change you change the nature of the challenge mechanics that work for that genre and the audience they appeal to.

Space simulation as a genre and consoles do not mix. Too many limitations in input and different mindset of target audience.

In the same vein, RTS games like starcraft 2 are not good for consoles. Platformers and turn based RPGs however are often best on consoles. Its about knowing your genre.

Egosofts ignorance on wanting to be on the consoles shows they just dont grasp the difference. It would be far better for them to do a separate project, not space sim, if they wish to go the console route. The reason for doing that though is perhaps ego and wishful thinking as far as profit margins go. A lot of console developers have it rough or go under due to the nature of the used game industry, something egosoft wont have to worry about if they stick with PC exclusivity.

[captainpac1200]

What research? Honestly, what research?

Scouring the forums, reading countless threads, dev interviews and online articles dated back to that period, looking up and correlating dates and factoids, etc. I've been in this profession for 8 years now, I'm a games journalist, reviewer and editor for a gaming magazine, I know how to do research.

Still, as I said before, this is mostly speculation, I don't know the whole story, only the devs know that.

The irony is that there will be no new fanbase because anyone new picking this game up will think what a stinking pile of rubbish!

[Oranda]

The irony is that there will be no new fanbase because anyone new picking this game up will think what a stinking pile of rubbish!

The problem is that even tho X-Rebirth in it's current form is a pile is steaming sh*t, It does have good points at it's core. As soon I touch/see those good points i'm in happy lala country. But then I rudely get awaken by clumsy interface and shallow fluff that the crammed into the game.

What I am so afraid about is that egosoft is going "this is how we envision it, so you better deal with it" and i'm stuck with a cripple dream of €50 that needs to be fixed up by the mod community.

For example Skyrim was far from perfect at it's launch, but it had it's charm. The interface was mediocre, quest lines sometimes bugged out to game breaking levels, but by no means you had the dreaded feeling you where stuck in a console port. As a bonus Bethesda released the right tools at the right time, and has a monstrous modding community of extremely skilled and talented people backing it up.

SKYRIM
34,571 Files
12,990 Authors
373.13m Downloads

If Egosoft is even going to release modding tools, the are going crawl a really tight hole to even get to 1/10th of that. And with the current approach the took, it might be possible that allot of modders simply give up.

Or will the actually admit that what the released was far from what the where trying to begin with 7 years ago? Took some wrong turns? And seriously change a few things around? Give it a proper PC interface? Fix the balance issues? Fix the empty promises that where sold before launch date?

Or totally in the end, where we simply to naive and trusted Egosoft to much and blindly fell in this gigantic space troll trap?

I don't know it anymore, but there is one thing that keeps me baffled time over again: Did the seriously thought the fans would not notice the shortcomings of X-Rebirth?

--- disclaimer ---

No disrespect to any of the current modders! You guys are doing a great job and much to my surprise where way quicker to swing in action then I could imagine.

[Artificer]

For example Skyrim was far from perfect at it's launch, but it had it's charm. The interface was mediocre, quest lines sometimes bugged out to game breaking levels, but by no means you had the dreaded feeling you where stuck in a console port. As a bonus Bethesda released the right tools at the right time, and has a monstrous modding community of extremely skilled and talented people backing it up.

You have to take two other things into account there, though. Not that I'm disagreeing with you, just that I don't believe your example really applies to Rebirth.

Here's why.

First, the Skyrim "fanbase" is orders of magnitude larger than the X series. The Elder Scrolls series has always been insanely popular and the community just so much larger that even if they'd had a similar launch to Rebirth (which they didn't, it wasn't near this bad) they'll still have a very, very solid fan- and mod-base.

Second, where PC Elder Scrolls fans are concerned they all know that even the most game-breaking quest bugs can be solved through a quick console command and that it won't take the community very long to document them. Knowing that the console is available to me goes a long way in my granting Elder Scrolls leniency. When I started playing Skyrim, one of the first bugs I experienced was that although I bought the alchemy lab for my house and the gold disappeared, I didn't get my alchemy lab. One console command later, all fixed.

As I said, I don't disagree with you that they're similar situations and I totally get why you present it as an example but even if Ego handles this exactly the same way Bethesda did, with something like 1/100 the blood supply they're hemorrhaging (gods I hate trying to spell that word) far, far faster... both in terms of customers and in terms of available funds.

[Hordak]

Console port confirmed:
http://roguey.co.uk/xrebirth/

[Eilarais]

Console port confirmed:
http://roguey.co.uk/xrebirth/

Um, that link just cites information from this forum thread, it's not a confirmation.

But regardless of where it came from, it certainly seems to share a lot of the shortcomings of a PC port. And it doesn't have anywhere near the polish and presentation of a console game, if that's what it wanted to be. So this seems to be a good example of the "chasing two rabbits, losing them both, and then selling them on Steam" school of game design.

[Cereal_Killa]

Console port confirmed:
http://roguey.co.uk/xrebirth/

Wow, even Roguey has turned away from this franchise, and he was the series' biggest supporter through all the years!!

The X games are dead.

[Sirrobert]

Console port confirmed:
http://roguey.co.uk/xrebirth/

Wow, even Roguey has turned away from this franchise, and he was the series' biggest supporter through all the years!!

The X games are dead.

Nah, X3 is still awesome

[Mauzi!]

Wow, even Roguey has turned away from this franchise, and he was the series' biggest supporter through all the years!!

Not only him but quite a few other rather famous names in the modding community dropped the case, and those who were the ones that turned crappy X-R into the shining X-AP. And obviously it's not that they don't see chances to fix the game, but having been cheated by Egosoft with lies over lies, they just are no longer willing to spend time here and turned away.

As result, without people comitted like those there's no hope for XR. It's not like Egosoft ever managed to get a proper game out on their own but instead relied on the very manpower that they now disgruntled.

Way to ruin your company.

[perry_106]

Nope. Why make a game for a console that is redundant by the time it finally comes out?! LOL FAIL. 7 years for a an Xbox 360 game JUST as the new console is released. Sorry, it aint true.

[Mauzi!]

Nope. Why make a game for a console that is redundant by the time it finally comes out?! LOL FAIL. 7 years for a an Xbox 360 game JUST as the new console is released. Sorry, it aint true.

You can believe what you want, but if you read the forum carefully you will find someone having posted gamecode with clear references to the XBox360. Also there's been old interviews that contradict Bernd's claims that the game was "made for PC".

No point in arguing though, some people are just blind to facts and want to see what they want. If you do.. fair enough, it's your choice - have fun playing.

[Alewx]

The never will have the balls to tell us the truth!
We know it, they know it, but they are not confirming it, just ripping more money from further customers, with lies from PR.

[Nomadian]

The plot continues to thicken...

I think I need to stay away from the forums and the game for quite a while. The more I read the more disappointed I get in Egosoft. At this rate I'll have an embargo against them before the end of the week.

[jack775544]

but quite a few other rather famous names in the modding community dropped the case, and those who were the ones that turned crappy X-R into the shining X-AP.

Mind telling me who they are?
So far, X:R has been seen to be the easiest game to mod out of anything that Egosoft has ever released. So far what I have seen is that people are disappointed in the features, but many problems (such as not being able to give your ships direct commands) can easily be fixed by mods.

[renaultf1fan5]

Considering the entire control scheme and menu system are built for an Xbox 360 controller it's obvious this game was intended for a console release without even having to dig through game files. Every feature in the game was dumbed down to work on an Xbox controller without the need of a keyboard.

The initial plan was probably to release both on console and PC, but as evidenced by the years of delay and the state of the current game they obviously took on more than they were capable of doing. I wouldn't be surprised if their plan now is to patch up the PC game while working on a release for the Xbox One,, that is if they don't financially go under before then.

It's such a shame that a small development team of space sims for the PC wasted 7 years of development time and money trying unsuccessfully to make their game more "mainstream" for consoles rather than improve upon what they were good at. The future for Egosoft looks bleak as they can no longer fall back on the safety net of having no real competition with the ever larger shadow of Star Citizen looming around the corner.

[Raider480]

The future for Egosoft looks bleak as they can no longer fall back on the safety net of having no real competition with the ever larger shadow of Star Citizen looming around the corner.

Not to mention Elite: Dangerous, a modern successor to what could well be considered the model space game.
I have a lot of respect for Roguey, and that was where I first read this. Incredibly disappointed. Few things kill a game with a lot of potential like being a console port does. It doesn't help that pretty much all the X games have been notoriously week when it comes to UI anyway.

[scarshapedstar]

The future for Egosoft looks bleak as they can no longer fall back on the safety net of having no real competition with the ever larger shadow of Star Citizen looming around the corner.

X: Stillbirth.