Skull Island: Rise of Kong developers claimed the infamous title was only in development for a year.
Per The Verge, developers from IguanaBee studio defended themselves from waves of online criticism, with staff members stating that publisher GameMill Entertainment only gave the studio 12 months to work on the project. “The development process of this game was started in June of last year and it was aimed to end on June 2nd this year,” an anonymous developer said. “So one year development process.” Sources additionally claimed Skull Island was created from scratch and only had between two to 20 developers working on it throughout the year, which only worsened the project’s staffing and crunch problems.
A former IguanaBee developer who previously worked on other GameMill Entertainment-published titles also noted the publisher did not inform the studio of some details regarding their project, nor did it provide adequate funding to retain experienced staff members. “It was very common for us not to be provided with all the information about the project. Which was quite frustrating when working because we had to improvise with the limited information we had on hand,” the developer said. He continued, “I remember very well that they let go of a colleague who had been there longer than me. Deep down, I knew it was because the publisher didn’t provide them with enough funding to maintain a certain number of people for an extended period.”
Skull Island: Rise of Kong Mocked by Players at Release
Based on Merian C. Cooper and Edgar Wallace’s King Kong franchise, Skull Island: Rise of Kong is an action-adventure video game that follows the titular giant monster in his quest for revenge against the saurian terror, Gaw. The title was overwhelmingly panned shortly after its release, with players criticizing the game’s combat system, graphical fidelity and level design.
The public backlash was so severe that many users also believed Skull Island: Rise of Kong was a strong contender for the worst game of the year, which inevitably drew comparisons to another infamous licensed video game, Lord of the Rings: Gollum. Several in-game clips were additionally shared and went viral shortly before the game’s release, which led to waves of negative comments from longtime fans of the franchise who were disappointed with the licensed title’s quality. Many users mocked or were in disbelief regarding the state of Skull Island: Rise of Kong, which is notably the first King Kong video game to be developed in 18 years.
Skull Island: Rise of Kong is available for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch and PC.
Source: The Verge
