JoWood scraps Stargate SG-1 video game

In a surprise move, Austrian video game publisher JoWooD Productions Software AG announced today that they have put the brakes on Stargate SG-1: The Alliance and terminated the company’s relationship with developer Perception PTY Ltd. The company believes that the game as it is being developed will not meet the quality expectations of fans.

“The title in its current form, initially scheduled for an October 2005 release, does satisfy neither our quality requirements nor the fans expectations,” JoWood CEO Albert Seidl said in a press release. “We will not release anything that does not do justice to this well known license. In recent months we have invested a lot of time and resources in helping Perception finish the development, but we now simply have lost confidence in their ability to finish this project in time and sufficient quality.”

Following the termination JoWooD has asked for repayment of their investment in development and further expenses.

Stargate SG-1: The Alliance was to be released this fall for the PlayStation 2, XBox, and PC, and co-published in North America by Namco with a whopping $2 million marketing budget (story). Perception has been in development on the title since January 2004.

JoWood hopes that the game may yet have life with a different developer.

The company claims that, according to its contract, it retains the rights to the title, and the company will seek a transfer of the game’s source code and assets from Perception. “After delivery of the code and assets JoWooD will review the possibility of seeking out developers if it is economically viable to finish the title,” said Michael Paeck, Executive Producer for JoWooD.

A legal battle may be on the horizon, leaving the future of the game’s development — if there is one — uncertain. But the title certainly won’t be hitting the shelves this year.

“We are not prepared to release anything but a top quality title,” Paeck said. “Fans of the show as well as gamers would not accept anything less. There are several options to consider, among them potentially moving to next-gen consoles for the title.”

The current generation of gaming consoles is nearing the end of its life-cycle, with the next generation XBox 360 due out before Christmas. The PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Revolution will follow next spring.

Perception and MGM will be formally responding to JoWood’s press release soon, Perception’s Ben Lenzo told GateWorld. We’ll have more with Perception as this story develops.

(Thanks to Thor, Peter Vanek, BeyondUnreal, Boone, QAPete, and Dana Jeanne for the tip)

Updated August 6, 2005