Good news! Hidden Path Entertainment CEO Jeff Pobst and CFO Jim Garbarini took to the vide-webs today to announce that Defense Grid 2 is not just “happening,” development has been underway for a while and we can expect the game early next year. Full announcement and more below.
This news is kind of unexpected – I think most fans felt it was pretty likely there’d be a Defense Grid 2, but not so soon. Hidden Path’s successful Kickstarter campaign wasn’t technically for it – they wanted $250,000 to make Defense Grid: Containment, which they got, and which they did. Defense Grid 2 was a stretch goal, requiring a million bucks… or about $730,000 more than they made on Kickstarter. Luckily someone with money was watching, and made the vast cognitive leap that a sequel to the beloved tower defense game was in the best interest of civilization at large. Given Hidden Path’s successful, on-time, on-budget history, this mystery company made up the difference for our upcoming sequel.
What amazes me isn’t that they got publisher funding, it’s that they had so much trouble getting it. Hidden Path isn’t your regular indie studio. The company’s leadership, including Jim and Jeff, each average something like 25 years of experience in the games industry. Jeff Pobst started at Sierra, on King’s Quest, for crying out loud. Their CTO Michael Austin is considered one of the foremost experts on Xbox 360 architecture, and served on the original Xbox Advanced Technology Group. Jim Garbarini’s tenure in games began way back at Virtual World Entertainment Group (you’re probably more familiar with VWEG in the form of a subsidiary, Shadowrun and Mechwarrior innovators FASA). They’re a safe investment. Sure, I love Defense Grid and I know Jim and Jeff so I’m biased, but for some reason it really sticks in my craw that these guys, these people of all people, couldn’t get one god damned million bucks when the imbeciles behind Aliens: Colonial Marines got like fifty.
It sort of sums up one of the things that’s wrong with this business.
Anyhow, here’s what Jeff and Jim had to say…
So who is the secret backer? I have a theory, but whenever I voice my theories I wind up being embarrassingly wrong so I’ll keep my mouth shut. We’ll find out sooner or later anyway.
I’m a fan of Defense Grid, as you may have surmised, and I’m really excited for the new one. Hidden Path has developed a new engine around this game, and since their funding has created a release window a full year earlier than anyone expected, it means that we’ll be able to get back to our Grids and the Defending thereof much sooner than we’d like. Hooray!
Unleash a torrent of profanity at the author at steerpike@tap-repeatedly.com.
Whoo-hoo! I think I’ve actually spent more hours in DG than in either Dragon Age or Dark Souls. Which is saying something kinda horrifying.
Maybe it’s time I catch up on Defense Grid 1, eh? Hmm, this article quite sneakily sneaked in between Don’t Starve and Thomas Was Alone at some point today, I swear it wasn’t there before! Hmmmm how did it do that? Good thing I visit a dozen times a day!
The magic of WordPress. The world may be happy about this announcement, but it’s not enough to push down a certain contributor’s recent review, if you follow.
And yeah, catch up on Defense Grid. I mean come on man.
Alright, no bossing me around on things you’ve done that I haven’t! I’m feeling a bit of bitter rivalry toward you lately, what with your ability to apparently breeze through Bioshock Infinite compared to my endless struggles and controller-throttling rage.
And now you hang your Defense Grid veteran status over me. DAMN YOU!
I challenge you to 10 consecutive matches of NES Jeopardy!
Don’t blame yourself, blame technology! God meant for shooters to be played with the mouse and keyboard. You’d cream me in Jeopardy. I’d keep forgetting to answer in the form of a question!
The whole Defense Grid package was on sale a while back, and with the big new announcement it wouldn’t surprise me if there’s another sale soon.
Since you’re a DG nooblet I’ll Yoda you a piece of wisdom: Cannon Tower. Learn it, live it, love it. Life without a Cannon Tower by your side is not a life worth living.
I’ve never played Defense Grid. The whole tower defense genre is only of passing interest to me. Does that make me a bad person?
Anyway, I think the point about A:CM is a sad one indeed. Makes me think of the recent campaign over at RPS against the “if we ignore it, it will go away” tactic.
Botch, you’ve probably heard us all say it around here, but give Immortal Defense a try. I’m not super enthusiastic about tower defense in general, though I like it well enough, but ID stands outside the genre as something special. Good learning curve too, so it’s not hard to play no matter your TD experience.
well Defense Grid: The Awakening is on sale on Steam right now for $2.49. No-brainer. What’s Immortal Defense?
Immortal Defense is fantastic. My favorite of the genre is still Defense Grid, but ID is a brilliant, brilliant game with great writing, subtlety, tons of depth. $2.49, huh? That IS a steal for Defense Grid. I hope you enjoy it!
@Botch: Immortal Defense is a really special TD game and if you can get into the groove of the game then the accompanying story is up there with some of the best. Harbour Master and I discussed it (without spoilers) a couple of years ago. Have a read here: http://www.electrondance.com/2108-on-immortal-defense/
And here’s a snippet: “Suffice to say that only one other game has the honour of haunting me like Immortal Defense did and that’s Planescape: Torment. Yeah, a TD game managed that.”
@Steerpike: The happiness in those guys’ faces makes me feel bad that I didn’t back Containment and DG2, but the truth is, I didn’t gel so much with the original DG. Looking back, there’s no good reason why I shouldn’t have loved it. I’m a big TD fan. It had a great story arc with an intriguing character. It looked great. It had rock solid gameplay. But it just didn’t click. I may very well give it another whirl because I’ve been on a TD holiday for the last few months. That aside, I’m excited to see where they take DG2!
Oh my, Defense Grid now has leaderboards for each level. I see you Steerpike… and Amanda, and Luke. I’m a fiend for friend leaderboards.