Empyrean Interactive doesn’t like the label of making an MMO; as we’ve covered here before, the studio prefers to frame its future games as “persistent cooperative adventures.” A recent Polygon interview with the heads of the studio reveals more of the team’s intentions, explaining that the founders’ time with 38 Studios and Carbine Studios specifically demonstated the issues with the MMORPG genre and why the field as a whole isn’t working:
“These games are in development for three, five, six years sometimes. The game you start with is very different from the game you make at the very end, and people’s opinions on media change so much in that time. We’re trying to make a game today, put it out in two years and market it as quickly as possible.”
The interview goes on to outline the team’s formation and the studio’s overall development strategy, with the first game on the studio’s docket planned for a playable state in November and early access in early 2017. While there’s no hard information on the game, it’s an interesting look behind the scenes of the formation of a new studio and the process of attracting investors to relatively unknown names with industry history.
