Square Enix: Activision Must be “Crazy” for Giving up True Crime: Hong Kong

Square Enix president and chief executive of the US division Mike Fischer thinks Activision must be "crazy" for cancelling True Crime: Hong Kong. 

Just for reference, True Crime: Hong Kong was being developed by United Front Games before it got canned by Activision but the game and developer got its second-wind when Square Enix took the game, used some of its Square magic and rebranded it as "Sleeping Dogs."

Speaking to VentureBeat, Fischer talks about what he saw in the franchise and how he thinks the game's different gameplay mechanics are as good as the other, more established franchises.

The game was, in a sense, discovered. I’m making air quotes: ‘discovered’ by the folks in Wimbledon. The minute they showed it to us, we really felt like we had found a diamond in the rough. Obviously the game was originally True Crime: Hong Kong from Activision. I can’t speak to why they let that go. I’m not going to speculate on their behalf. All I know is, they’ve gotta be crazy. Because this game is just fantastic. The scale and scope of the game really encompasses all of everything you’d want to do in Hong Kong. The acting, the story, the characters are very deep.

There’s clearly a lot of inspiration from [the movies] The Departed and Infernal Affairs. You play an undercover cop who starts to feel mixed loyalties. But the open world feels like Arkham City, the combat feels as good as a fighting game, the driving is as good as a Need for Speed, and the story is every bit as rich as compelling as a Mass Effect. All in one game. In a sense it reminds me a little bit of Dead Island, which Square Enix America did the sales and distribution for. Nobody had heard of that game coming into E3, and in the U.S. alone it sold over 2 million units. It’s great to have a sleeper.

While it's quite known that Activision doesn't really risk its neck on games without the words "Call of Duty" on them, maybe they knew something Square Enix didn't when they decided to can the game? In any case, we'll know for ourselves once Sleeping Dogs hit the PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 on August 14.

Source: VentureBeat