In 2008, Chair Entertainment announced plans to turn Orson Scott Card's sci-fi novel Ender's Game into a series of video games for all current consoles, handhelds, and even the PC. The project, which would have placed players in simulated combat situations within the fiction's futuristic "Battle Room," has since been put on indefinite hold by Chair. The purchase of the studio by Epic Games (a publisher with a taste for unique IP) is a big reason why we'll probably never see the series.
"We have and had an amazing design for the Ender's Game game," studio co-founder Donald Mustard told Joystiq, but "one of Epic's primary objectives is to create original and unique franchises. I don't know that Ender's Game fits into that strategic objective anymore."
"So, probably not," Mustard said, speaking to this game's eventual release. "Not from us" at least, he said.
== TEASER ==I read a lot of sci-fi, but I've yet to check out Ender's Game, which makes it tough to talk about what Ender's Game: The Game could have been. Wikipedia's synopsis of the book tells me that we might have seen a game focused not only on the "Battle Room," but also the life of baby Space Marines.
"Most of the story focuses around the Battle School, a space station used as a military training complex for children. The IF tests all children on Earth and selects the brightest for the Battle School for military training. Students are organized into armies with 40 members and assigned to conduct simulated battles in zero gravity. Upon graduation, students move on to either Tactical School, Combat School, Pre-Command School or Command School with three years in Pre-Command. The Battle School forms in response to the need of highly skilled officers for the wars against the Formics, and most of the officers in the IF pass through the school at one time."
You know, I think I'm OK with this being placed on hold. Infinity Blade and Shadow Complex turned out to be pretty good.
[Image via egonSchiele's deviantart page.]