14 DAY TRIAL // Three new trademarks seem to indicate that developer Starbreeze, who has previously worked on The Chronicles of Riddick and on The Darkness, is collaborating with publisher Electronic Arts to create a new videogame bearing the Syndicate name. The relationship between the two entities began back in 2008 when the announcement was made that Starbreeze would remake a major franchise for the PlayStation 3 from Sony, the Xbox 360 from Microsoft and the PC.
The documents, which were uncovered by the information gatherers at Superannuation and the three parties mentioned, are: Starbreeze AB, Sidecar I AB and Electronic Arts Inc. It seems that a bank is also involved, suggesting that Starbreeze licensed the Syndicate name from EA, then got a loan in order to fund the development and will then offer the end product to Electronic Arts to be published and distributed worldwide.
Apparently, the internal name for the new Syndicate game is Project RedLime and it appears that Starbreeze, which is set in Sweden, is now focusing exclusively on it after last month Electronic Arts announced that the developer would no longer be working on a new Jason Bourne videogame based on the Ludlum books.
The original Syndicate was published way back in 1993 by Bullfrog and is one of the first team based tactical games. The game is played from an isometric view and the gamer orders around a team of four cyborg agents which need to complete various objectives through the judicious application of over the top violence. The management aspect of the game, which saw the player juggle training and research in order to get more powerful cyborgs working for him, was especially interesting.
Syndicate, with its lack of morality, tactical gameplay and story of corporations fighting one another, could certainly prove a hit with today's players. Confirmation of a new Syndicate game could arrive as soon as June at the E3 presentation of Electronic Arts.