Duration: 2:40

32,856 views

38

http://www.unseen64.net

July 19, 2001 - Retro Studios has officially terminated its GameCube RPG Raven Blade and laid off some 26 people formerly working on the project. The decision was made to kill the title so that the Texas-based studio could focus all of its effort on Metroid Prime, which Nintendo has stated is its top priority.

Raven Blade, shown for the first time at the Electronics Entertainment Expo 2001 in full-motion video form, had been underway by Retro Studios since shortly after the firm's inception. The title, which pitted players as a knight in a post-apocalyptic world filled with demonic enemies and fire-breathing dragons, was one of the first games the studio began work on.

"Retro, along with Nintendo, has decided its most effective approach as a videogame developer is to focus on Metroid and give it the attention the franchise deserves," Nintendo told IGNcube this morning. "To do that, they refined staffing and are laying off 26 people, mainly the team that worked on Raven Blade. Raven Blade is now cancelled."

The termination of the project means that Retro Studios is now only working on one game -- Metroid. Asked why Raven Blade was killed, Nintendo commented: "It was a business decision and clearly based on the need to focus on Metroid and ensure it's a great game, and also on the resources that would have been needed to finish Raven Blade."

http://cube.ign.com/articles/096/096761p1.html