Empty out the cupboards for hiding, grab an extra pair of underwear, and prepare to face off against the Xenomorph swarms once again: a new Alien game is in development. The new game, which is currently untitled, was announced yesterday by way of 20th Century Fox’s new publishing house, FoxNext Games, and developer Cold Iron Studios.
According to an email from a PR representative that includes the press release, the FoxNext Games division is led by “industry veterans” that specialize in new entertainment experiences “across mobile, console, PC and VR.” The “About FoxNext” section of the press release even specifically mentions “FoxNext VR Studio” overseeing Alien and Planet of the Apes cinematic VR content. Interesting that they’d make sure to include those distinctions, no?
We don’t actually know very much about this game at all, but we think it’s a safe bet that it will have VR support of some kind. Creative Assembly’s excellent Alien Isolation never got full, official VR support, but mods have brought the unfinished feature to life and made it one of VR’s biggest and best survival horror games. It’s fair to assume that Fox is aware of that cult popularity.
We’ve previously recorded some footage of the mod in action down below:
On the development side Cold Iron Studios is made up of tons of industry veterans as well, including developers that have worked on Star Trek Online, City of Heroes, Bioshock Infinite, Neverwinter, Metroid Prime 3, Borderlands, and DOOM. This new Alien project will be the studio’s first official game.
“Cold Iron Studios has amazing design, craftsmanship and development talent that we are excited to welcome at FoxNext Games as we pursue our goal to build a multi-platform, multi-genre portfolio of great games,” Aaron Loeb, President of Studios, FoxNext Games, said in a prepared statement. “I am a personal fan of Cold Iron’s previous work and all of us at FoxNext Games are thrilled to be working with them as they create an action-packed persistent world, steeped in the mysteries of this beloved Alien universe.”
Let’s just hope the team working on this new game is far removed from the lackluster and disappointing prequel VR experience.
While the VR support note is still just speculation at this point, I think I’d be more surprised if it didn’t have VR features rather than if it did. It’s a universe that’s perfectly poised to reap the rewards of VR’s immersive potential.
Let us know what you think down in the comments below!
