The “Break it Down” Blog

I don’t know about anyone else, but Crackdown is one of my favorite co-op games.  The freedom of running around an open city and jumping from rooftop to rooftop with a friend is great fun.  Not to mention the addictive hunt for every orb.  So, when I came across some rumors that Crackdown 2 might be in the works I was really excited.  Then, on Major Nelson’s podcast this week they hint at it as well. Hopefully these rumors pan out and we get an announcement about Crackdown 2 soon.  Or even better some screenshots.

Here is the first rumor I came across:

Speculation that a new Crackdown game is in development was triggered last night following the all-but-official arrival of Scottish developer Ruffian Games.

The Ruffian team is comprised of key members of the original Crackdown development group. A Flickr slideshow, unearthed by ScottishGames.biz, shows members of the new Ruffian staff perusing potential office space across Dundee, Scotland.

Xen Group’s Gaz Liddon can be seen in several pictures of the group seeking their new headquarters. Liddon’s Xen Group provided Microsoft Game Studios in 2005-06 a team of 15 to provide “core technology for rendering and physics, artwork, design and managerial resources”.

Along with Liddon, Crackdown lead designer Billy Thomson has been speculated as one of the new founders of the Ruffian team.

Realtime Worlds will not be working on the next Crackdown, due to commitments with its upcoming APB.  Microsoft Game Studios previously acquired the IP, but have yet confirmed the game is in development.

A Microsoft spokesperson was unavailable at the time of writing.
Realtime Worlds declined to comment.

Update: In a statement to VG247, Realtime Worlds studio head Colin MacDonald has confirmed the developer is in discussions with Microsoft regarding Crackdown 2.

I just wanted to correct the rumours today surrounding Crackdown. Although to date we haven’t had an offer from Microsoft for the Crackdown sequel rumoured, we continue to have ongoing discussions with them. In the unfortunate event that there isn’t an agreement with RTW reached, Dave said he would “be gutted not to be involved, but if it had to be that way, I would want to see it done justice – by an established, renowned developer that had the track record of delivering the quality gaming experience Crackdown players would demand.”

In any event, I also very much doubt that Microsoft would harm an otherwise fruitful existing development relationship by gambling on funding Crackdown 2 with a startup on RTW’s doorstep, for obvious reasons.

Regarding the rumoured RTW departures, we believe that maybe five or six ex-Realtime Worlds staff have been employed by Ruffian in recent weeks. Whilst we’re always sad to lose any member of the RTW family, fans should rest assured that the vast majority of the Crackdown team remain at RTW, and our 200+ talented individuals are working hard towards APB being one of the biggest launches of 2009, as well as on an unannounced project that will cause quite a stir when unveiled.