The Rise of Kong devs reveal the work conditions that led to the release of the widely panned game. Read on to learn more about the devs’ statements and the state of game dev in IguanaBee and GameMill.
Rise of Kong Underwent Difficult Development
Crunch and Publisher Problems
Skull Island: Rise of Kong devs reveal problems during the development of the "worst game" of the year, according to an interview with Verge. In the interview with an anonymous dev from IguanaBee, the studio behind the game, they said that the publisher, GameMill, gave them only one year to develop the game.
Despite the studio wanting to make original games and IPs, funding can only come from publishers like GameMill to make licensed games. This restriction, along with the time limit, created a myriad of problems where delays could endanger not only the development of the games but also the livelihood of the devs.
Unfortunately, this situation seems more prevalent in the video game industry, with publishers and studios being pushed to crunch to release an undercooked game. Earlier this year, Redfall and Gollum underwent quite similar circumstances, resulting in massive backlash from their disappointing releases.
Rise of Kong, Fall of the IP
Skull Island: Rise of Kong is a $40 3rd-person action-adventure game featuring the titular King Kong in his quest to exact vengeance against his parents’ killer. It is the latest game in the King Kong franchise and is now receiving flak from fans and gamers for just being a "bad King Kong beat-em-up" with poor graphics and janky gameplay.
Sources:
The Verge - That bad King Kong game was only in development for a year
