14 DAY TRIAL // EA Partners has announced that it will handle publishing duties for one of the most interesting role playing game projects in development, a collaboration between Ken Rolston, one of the men behind The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, R.A. Salvatore, the creator of the Drizzt Do'Urden character, and Todd McFarlane, the well known comics book creator and the father of Spawn.
The new videogame is called Project Mercury and will be a single player-focused RPG set to arrive on the Xbox 360 from Microsoft, the PlayStation 3 from Sony and the PC. The game world will be a new one, called Copernicus, and the overall development process is handled by Big Huge Games, which was acquired by 38 Studios in 2009. At the moment, the developer does not have a timeframe for the launch of the now called Project Mercury.
Jen MacLean, the Chief Executive Officer of 38 Studios, told Gamasutra that “We can't mention enough the depth and experience Ken has brought to the project. He's working in every day, and it's [sic] created an amazing creative environment that has really blossomed into a fantastic and creative product.”
R.A. Salvatore and Todd McFarlane are also working on a MMO for 38 Studios, which seems to be built using the same game universe as Project Mercury. The quality of the talent working on the new RPG is clear but a few more details should be made public, even if the game is in the early stages of development, to show off the vision they have for their game and give potential fans something to be excited about.
Developer Big Huge Games was founded in 2000 by a team of people who had previously worked on the Civilization series. Their biggest claim to fame has been the Rise of Nations release and its expansion. The studio was bought by THQ in 2008 and the publisher announced it would close it down if a new buyer did not step in. 38 Studios stepped forward and picked it up.