In a post on the official Precursor Games forums, Denis Dyack has confirmed that Shadow of the Eternals has been put on hold, as members of Precursor Games itself will be taking a break.
Denis explains that the staff behind Precursor Games have been paying for development of Shadow of the Eternals out of their own pockets for over a year now. They do not regret everything that has happened, especially since they were able to build up a core fan community for themselves.
And so many of the people behind Precursor are taking a break. Note that they did not outright say Precursor Games is disbanding. We don’t even know the extent or duration of that break will be. Denis, along with Phil Haymes and Aaron Unger, will keep their forums operating, and possibly even explore Shadow of the Eternals-related creative projects on the side. Other people from Precursor will show up in the community from time to time.
Lastly, and quite succinctly, Denis makes it clear: Shadow of the Eternals is not dead. However, the project needs to take a break as much as the Precursor Games staff does, and so they will bring it back after the time is right.
It’s been a tumultuous year for Shadow of the Eternals, after two failed runs at Kickstarter, and a last minute Greenlighting on Steam. We don’t know why they could not pursue Steam (Precursor may themselves have been NDA’d from disclosing it), but it may simply be that the project needs more funding than Valve can provide, especially now that Valve themselves are on the cusp of launching Steam Machines.
It’s heartening to know that Shadow of the Eternals will continue to be a going concern for the people behind Precursor Games. It did seem they were running across more roadblocks than other crowdfunds, with not just the skepticism around Denis Dyack, but also the saturation of crowdfunding campaigns. It’s also possible the fanbase is reticent to back this game now on the cusp of the launch of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Maybe Shadow of the Eternals has a better chance of getting made somewhere in the middle of this console cycle, when gamers feel the need for something novel. Hey, if nothing else, Nintendo recently renewed the Eternal Darkness trademark, they could just go ahead and hire Precursor to make the sequel.
Source: Precursor Games forums
