14 DAY TRIAL // The development team at United Front Games believes that Sleeping Dogs, their open-world brawling-based game, performed better than it would have under guidance from publisher Activision, because the team eliminated all expectations about what the title should be.
Dan Sochan, a producer working on Sleeping Dogs, tells VG247, “I think a lot of us were quite excited It gave us the ability to work on a blank page, and instead of people having certain expectations – either positive or negative – of the past titles, we could then focus on, ‘here is what we’re all about’.”
Apparently, United Front Games first saw the game as an original intellectual property and then had the True Crime: Hong Kong identity forced upon them.
Dropping that along with the Activision association has liberated the team and allowed them to create the game that they were always interested in making with Square Enix.
Sochan adds, “I think it all really depends on the support you have from your publisher, and if they really believe in your game and want to make it a success, as well as a game you’ve worked on and you’re proud of – then I think you can get it out at the end of a life-cycle and it can still be a fantastic game.”
Activision ended work on True Crime: Hong Kong saying that it lacked the quality needed to be a hit with players, but Square Enix saw that United Front Games had a core of interesting gameplay mechanics and offered the resources they needed to finish their project.
The game allows players to explore a large open world city while engaging in tactical and complex physical fights against groups of enemies.
The game managed to be a success during its August launch slot and United Front Games is now supporting it with downloadable content.