"We've Come This Far With True Crime Hong Kong--Why Not See it Through?"

There was a collective feeling of "er, why?" when Activision announced True Crime, a series no one held much nostalgia for since it disappeared, was getting a reboot. Perhaps, like Bethesda's decision to move forward with Prey 2, the company simply felt better with a brand, no matter its previous reputation.

Then, after years of development at United Front Games and several notable delays, Activision canceled True Crime Hong Kong in early February. Gamers weren't the only ones caught off guard; at the time, I was senior editor for EGMi and we'd just ran a digital cover story on the game, where we'd sent a writer to Canada to talk with the development team. The cover story was published and only weeks later, Activision decides to cancel the game. The official website for the game is still up, as though it still lives on.

I've run two stories so far based on two internal Activision memos that were passed to me. Both memos were released to employees not long after the announcement became public. I wasn't sure if enough people cared about True Crime Hong Kong to even run a third and final piece, but the surprisingly honest comments from one of the executives involved in the cancellation struck me as worthy of sharing.

 "We are sorry we did not get a chance to complete this project with Activision, but we understand why.  We are both committed to doing quality games and nothing less.  Maybe we will have a chance to work together in the future, but in the meantime we are setting our creative sights on a different horizon.  You can keep up with the latest developments at UFG here on our site."

Cool

Omg it got it!

I never liked this game so not really bothered by any of this

Dang it! This game sounds rad though.

Looks like the guy who is getting kicked either crapped or urined his pants.

Its crazy to see thats how games are being developed now and that people were still working on the game until the moment of cancellation is even more shocking

Activision have always been a very profit driven company, they made the same call with Bizarre Creations, UFG are just lucky they weren't own by them.

It's kind of sad how Activision only sees things in black and white.  Either you're a massive success, or you're a terrible failure.  It goes hand in hand with the awful metacritic-worshipping culture in the higher echelons of the industry.  Companies like Activision act as if there's no room for modestly budgeted, merely "good" games anymore, and tries to push each game beyond their limits to make them blockbusters, and as a result projects are canceled, jobs are lost, and franchises are destroyed.  It strikes me as promoting a very unnatural development process where everyone's too focused on creating the genre's next best game instead of just following your vision and making what you want.  Maybe this is why indie games are so big nowadays.

Although it sucks the game was cancelled, especially for the developers who busted their ass on the game, I cannot say I disagree with the reasons it is canceled. Look at the games coming out this year and next year. I think this game would have had a hell of a time when open world games like La Noire and Infamous 2 are coming out. It would have been DOA. 

Activision does badly need more original properties. Blur and Singularity both fizzled, and Prototype is the only one that seems to be taking off as a real series.

He is probably right that it wouldn't have been able to compete with the top games, but doesn't mean it wouldn't have been profitable. 

It's unfortunate that, unlike film, there is no "home video" market where games can be expected to earn back their budget, make a profit or even be developed specifically for. No one would argue to infamous production companies like The Asylum are responsible for unsung gems (well okay, MST3K fans might) but at least they are afforded an outlet for their (appropriately budgeted) products that works for them.

impenetrable logic.  why aren't more studios this ambitoius

" He is probably right that it wouldn't have been able to compete with the top games, but doesn't mean it wouldn't have been profitable.  "

The True Crime series was never really that high in the excellence factor, but it's still one of the few GTA  like games where you play as a cop and actually do random cop activities that made it fun regardless. Even if you have to put up with the shoddy PC ports I still liked it so still saddened that the third one was cancelled. Least we have L.A. Noire but that's a different type of cop game really.

 I didn't care about this game at all, then heard it was canceled. After being surprised at how many people were disappointing I looked up the gameplay footage of it an god damn it looks awesome. The city looked fantastic. I wish I hadn't!

When I first heard of it's cancellation I was a bit dissapointed. It was the only True Crime game that actually looked good. But now I guess none of that matters.

so instead of making new hit games, activision is driving existing ones into the ground. good to hear.

It seems weird to make such a call on a game before it's released unless you know while making it that it's truly a bad game. It didn't look like anything to amazing to me but I was still interested in this game and would of probably picked it up on launch. Shame it wont ever see the light of day now. 

I can't fault a company for ceasing production on a title they don't feel lives up to an internal quality standard they're trying to establish, even if the company is big bad Activision. 

I'd say I was scared for the industry, if I didn't understand that ultimately this is a business and people need to make money and if the tremendous presence of independent developers wasn't a defining feature of today's video game culture.

Too bad.  I like open world games and would have given it a shot.  Not at $60 tho so they probably made the right choice.

Activision are motherf******, That is all.

You know I had some fun times with Streets of LA. At least, I seem to remember shooting a man in the kneecaps, which was apparently the humane and moral option in whatever bizarre scenario the game had thrust upon me.

" Given the market dynamics described above, where only the very best titles succeed, we decided to stop development and allow the organization to focus on the many opportunities which lie ahead of us and require our full attention in 2011."

" It's kind of sad how Activision only sees things in black and white.  Either you're a massive success, or you're a terrible failure.  It goes hand in hand with the awful metacritic-worshipping culture in the higher echelons of the industry.  Companies like Activision act as if there's no room for modestly budgeted, merely "good" games anymore, and tries to push each game beyond their limits to make them blockbusters, and as a result projects are canceled, jobs are lost, and franchises are destroyed.  It strikes me as promoting a very unnatural development process where everyone's too focused on creating the genre's next best game instead of just following your vision and making what you want.  Maybe this is why indie games are so big nowadays. "

I actually enjoyed playing True Crime: Streets of L.A, sad to the series hittin' the grave. There is of course some truth to what the reasons are, a lot of competition out there.

All Activision is doing now a days is pumping out sequels for their games. No fresh IPs, no innovation, not even taking a shot on something crazy. It is utterly maddening that a company that back in the day came out with some of the most beloved titles is no longer putting forth any real effort. Just coasting on Spider-man and Call of Duty.

By canceling True Crime HK, an opportunity to take on games like GTA and Saints' Row has been squandered & we are worse off because of it. The atmosphere of Activision is that of making sequels and nothing else. EA was able to pull out of their downward spiral, right themselves and fix some of the most idiotic decisions they have ever made. What will it take for Activision to do the same?

I don't think I ever finished Streets of L.A, but it was pretty fun from what I can remember. I would've given this one a shot.

"

" we decided to stop development and allow the organization to focus on the many opportunities which lie ahead of us".

   

So it got cancelled because it's not COD.

I kid. I kid.

"

Activision seems to have unrealistic expectations for their games. Even though this particular project may have had some problems, I guarantee that the project had only run up enough costs to make COD sales numbers impossible, which seems to be their goal. I don't think they understand that not every game can be the bestselling game of all time, COD has really spoiled them in that regard.

Streets of LA was shit, but it's also a classic. It was the first game to accurately and fully map the street plan of a real city. I learned LA from playing that game, damn it. This new game would have been rubbish, so I don't give a fuck if it's canceled. But for the love of god give respect to Streets of LA. 

It's... it's my future... I see... I see no sleep lost over this.

i appreciate the respectful words regarding the decision to cancel, however i'm still super bummed. this was looking  awesome. i very much hope someone either picks this back up or tries something very similar.

hmmm I kinda liked NY. The martial arts system was kinda fun.

Got stuck at that one turret level and could never get passed it. Aw well.

What 2011 open world games are there? Rage? Is LA noire? Elderscroll 5 kinda counts.

I was going to get it.

Think they learned from Mafia 2's poor sales?

" hmmm I kinda liked NY. The martial arts system was kinda fun. Got stuck at that one turret level and could never get passed it. Aw well. What 2011 open world games are there? Rage? Is LA noire? Elderscroll 5 kinda counts. "

the game wasn't that great. it was was but other people weren't into it. i got the first, pretty good game. you played as a cop after other  people. there were sometimes other side missions of getting criminals.

I don't care what people think about the game, i think it looked incredibly fun.

Goddamn shame they didn't just see it through, from what i understand it was close to being done so why not just sell it to another company? one of the many reason this industry pisses me off, if you are gonna start something and set release dates and show off the game fucking finish it.

It's a shame and although I understand their decision to cover their butts financially, I very much enjoyed the True Crime series despite its inherent faults. Besides the fun kung fu, randomly patting down civilians only to score a sudden bust ended up being as strangely addicting as running around and shooting people in GTA.

If they put this out as "Stranglehold 2" I probably would have bought it.

Shame. I was really looking forward to this game...

The people who are getting mad at Activision over this one have to realize that open-world games are crazy expensive to produce, and so for an open-world game to even be considered successful, it basically has to be what would be considered a "home-run" by the standards used for other games.

" If they put this out as "Stranglehold 2" I probably would have bought it. "

i think they wanted it to have a white protagonist so that they can market it easier it to a larger audience. with Fast 5 out, maybe they will green light a True Crime-esque game set in Rio instead of Hong Kong.