UPDATE: Hey, I was right. GameSpot heard back from McCaig, who confirmed the 2015 date was his "wildest guess" and he has "no real information" on the game's release date.
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You won't be playing Respawn Entertainment's first game until 2015, if you believe today's headlines. The news comes out of the Develop conference in Europe, where Iain McCaig, a contracted concept artist working with Respawn, said we wouldn't see his contributions until 2015.
“I’m having the most fun working with Respawn Entertainment right now," said McCaig according to a report by Develop, "and I hate that I can’t show you guys what I’m doing there until 2015.”
Naturally, everyone took that to mean Respawn's game won't show up until 2015, either.
If you take the article at face value, okay.
The problem is there's no way to verify the tone of McCaig's comments. Was there sarcasm? Given the secrecy surrounding Respawn's project, the idea of McCaig cracking a joke about whenever his work would surface would make sense.
There's no audio or video, however, so I can't so for sure--I have to take the comments as written.
None of the evidence surrounding Respawn's activity since its formation makes the 2015 date add up. We're talking about a studio known for turning around some of the best looking and playing games within incredibly aggressive two-year cycles. After forming the company in April 2010, we're supposed to believe the finished product doesn't show up until five years later?
I don't buy it. Nothing I've heard regarding Respawn leads me to believe the 2015 speculation is accurate, and the launch of a website, the releasing of teaser artwork and the hiring of a community manager (what would they do for four years?) all point towards a company with every intention of releasing a game within a more reasoned timeframe.
I contacted Respawn about this but the studio declined to comment. McCraig has not made a follow-up statement, either.
I'll be happy to eat crow if I'm wrong.