Army of Two: Devil’s Cartel Failed Due to Low Team Morale, Short Development Window

Sometimes, the game industry is just an ugly, ugly place. Not all studios run as they should, and the story of Visceral Games Montreal and the poorly received Army of Two: Devil’s Cartel is a strong example of a dysfunctional developer.

Executive producer Julian Beak took to his LinkedIn profile (via Videogamer) to explain why, exactly, the blockbuster shooter received a Metacritic score of 54 on Xbox 360 and 58 on PS3. That type of failure isn’t exactly positive to have on your resume, but according to Beak, it was the "negative trajectory of morale" that led to the misfired project.

Beak had a leadership role, but he wasn’t brought in until late in the game. As he states on his professional profile, he was "recruited late in development to nurture the team at Visceral Games Montreal to deliver a struggling product in very little time," and while he "modeled and coached honesty, tenacity and commitment at all levels,” it just wasn’t enough to make Devil’s Cartel a good game.

"The team's new high standard of proficiency was applied too late and the predictable result was an underwhelming production," he continued.

Visceral Montreal was believed to be closed before Army of Two: Devil’s Cartel, so whatever the team learned about keeping your head up during the bad times will have to be applied elsewhere.