In an interesting update to a prior rumor, it has come to light that Grasshopper Manufacture is the reported developer working on the next game in the Alien franchise.
As we reported a few days ago, this game is expected to be a survival horror with a AAA budget, and its projected to be releasing in holiday 2023. However, the revelation that Grasshopper Manufacture is the supposed developer adds a new wrinkle to the rumor.
Alien has a rich history in video games, marred by one particularly famous flop. That history goes as far back as 1982, with an Alien maze game based on the original movie on the Atari 2600. Notable entries in the franchise include Konami’s 1990 Aliens game, a run and gun arcade game, Sega’s 1993 Alien 3: The Gun, a notable light gun shooter that actually expands on the franchise’s story, Capcom’s 1994 Aliens vs Predator, the preeminent four player beat em up inspired by a comic, 2000’s Alien Resurrection, a PlayStation shooter that is one of the first to introduce the analog stick shooter controls that is convention today, and 2010’s Alien vs Predator, notable for providing different campaigns for a xenomorph, yautja, and human.
And then there is the infamous Aliens: Colonial Marines, the shooter credited to Gearbox Software and Sega. Aliens: Colonial Marines is considered one of the worst games ever made, with bad graphics, performance issues, and problems with the enemy AI. While we now know this did not kill Alien as a video game property, it set back the property for a few years.
Alien’s return to prominence started with Alien Isolation, a survival horror game that tied itself closely to the movies. Releasing in 2014, it contrasts itself strongly with Aliens: Colonial Marines as one of the most critically acclaimed games of all time, and a sales success.
Most recently, Cold Iron Studios, now working on Alien for Disney, release Aliens: Fireteam Elite, the squad based shooter that we were promised to receive from Aliens: Colonial Marines. Aliens: Fireteam Elite serves as a new direction for the franchise, under Alien’s new ownership. We just reported on new additions to this game for its 4th season.
Disney also licensed Alien to Focus Entertainment to produce an upcoming real-time strategy game called Aliens: Dark Descent.
Now, Grasshopper Manufacture, currently owned by Chinese game company Netease, its itself a Japanese game developer, best known for making action games like Lollipop Chainsaw and No More Heroes, as well as for a sense of quirkiness that pervades both their big and small games alike.
In spite of its reputation, Grasshopper has experience on multiple genres. They did make one survival horror game, in 2008’s Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse for the Wii. It will certainly be interesting to see how Grasshopper goes about making what is ostensibly a mainstream game under a major publisher.
Source: Insider Gaming
