The Rise and Fall of Crackdown

grand theft auto co-creator david jones founded developer real-time worlds in 2002 then set out to produce an experience that could venture beyond the confines of gta the studio placed such a weight on itself with its first project crackdown an action-packed sandbox adventure that provided players with free-form styles of play intuitive game controls and a true feeling of empowerment while a super cop tasked with reading their city of the criminal element represented the lens through which users explored crackdown's pacific city setting narrative storytelling took a back seat in favor of building a world that revolved primarily around gameplay and exploration real-time worlds succeeded in spades upon crackdown's 2007 release on xbox 360 managing to carve out a unique space in a market that had slowly become inundated with grand theft auto lookalikes games such as true crime scarface the world is yours and the godfather all tried muscling in on the territory controlled by rockstar games thrusting players into seedy underworlds with fairly traditional tales of big city crime david jones's crew at real-time worlds took a different tact injecting special abilities and an even greater sense of freedom into the formula given crackdown's positive reception and commercial triumphs many were eager to see how the then nascent franchise would further energize the open world genre and while microsoft counted among those interested in the ip's future the publisher entrusted its sequels to different teams thereby leaving crackdown in the hands of stewards who couldn't quite crack the code on what made the first super-powered adventure stand out from the crowd this is the rise and fall of crackdown at its founding in 2002 real-time worlds was predominantly comprised of former developers from rage games the british studio best known for the david beckham soccer game these humble beginnings for the dundee scotland-based real-time worlds paved the way to a fair few victories one of which involved the team signing a multi-game exclusivity deal with microsoft game studios for the xbox 360 in 2005. between these two pivotal touchstones in company history real time had already begun working with microsoft's expanding gaming division in secret laying the groundwork for the publishing arm's first major open world title producer phil wilson told gama sutra the idea for crackdown arose out of a desire to go beyond grand theft auto two primary goals fueled the development studio's lofty ambitions for one real-time worlds aimed to ensure players participated in the action as much as possible by placing a host of tools and mechanics at their disposal from the outset developers knew crackdown's exciting set-piece moments would take place in real time instead of during pre-rendered cutscenes the second goal revolved around weaving extensive gameplay possibilities into a fully explorable world that players had unlimited access to from the start microsoft allotted the studio four months in 2002 to produce a proof of concept and wanted the project completed in full by spring 2005 but several obstacles would keep real-time worlds from hitting this once far-off deadline leading to a prolonged production cycle that wilson later described as a roller coaster of highs and lows in a game developer post-mortem pre-production on crackdown began with a 12-month plan nine coders and a small number of asset creators were on board at the time with real time hoping microsoft would eventually allow it to ramp up to a 35-person operation once the year-long period elapsed the publisher asked for a playable demo which developers couldn't deliver since they had bitten off more than they could chew by going over budget and remaining understaffed real time needed a greater head count to achieve significant progress but its publishing partner demanded results first effectively creating a chicken in the egg situation that caused more harm than good this problem proved especially troublesome when microsoft requested the team shift the development of crackdown from the original xbox to xbox 360 a move that added another year to the open world title's projected deadline fortunately the team managed to complete a playable demo in february 2004 then proceeded to build upon the project's foundations for the next several months with incremental progress that september marked another integral milestone for real time wherein executives realized that crackdown required a scope document to better outline in-game features as well as plans for their implementation while this level of planning should have come into play at the start of pre-production as opposed to the end the crew at least had a much clearer path to follow but the already turbulent development cycle took another turn towards murkiness in early 2005 thanks to microsoft advising realtime to adopt criterion's renderware 4 engine phil wilson posited that the publisher preferred its new free-roaming adventure to utilize the most cutting-edge technology available but maintained the mid-development switch served as nothing short of a gross mistake such a drastic change debilitated the production pipeline because of the technology's incompleteness as a result relatively simple tasks like testing assets could take upwards of an hour and since few team members were willing to waste that kind of time assets often went untested culminating in issues of the quality control variety real times efforts later paid off when crackdown had finally gotten far enough along in production to warrant the hiring of contractors in the summer of 2005. this next step forward came with a caveat though given that microsoft's management of the contractors on top of many of them working remotely made for an unpleasant experience in addition real time had to contend with crackdown entering the spotlight long before it was ready crackdown or riot act as players knew it in japan comprised one of the xbox 360 exclusives announced at microsoft's x05 keynote in october 2005. the pre-rendered demo showcased the dark suited player character hoisting dumpsters toward enemy machinery with ease leaping up buildings and pulling off a range of other spectacular feats because the project wasn't technically ready for prime time real-time worlds and microsoft held off on unveiling gameplay arguably doing the game a disservice in the short term critics and the public offered little more than a tepid response to crackdown's reveal despite the intriguing premise of a super cop cracking down on crime few could see its full potential even the stylish art design with its exaggerated assets and bold geometry failed to capture hearts and minds at first blush the muted public reception adversely affected team morale according to phil wilson's statement in a post-launch games radar interview that such feelings motivated the studio to improve upon the project naturally qa testing ramped up as development continued to progress but it too became a process that gave way to a host of issues during a talk at gamefest 2007 microsoft game studios as software development engineer and test jamie johns described the myriad challenges involved in testing crackdown chief among them due to microsoft's inexperience with open world adventures the ability system open spaces comprised of 495 city blocks vehicles numerous interactive objects and the limited number of scripted behaviors complicated microsoft's standard testing practices unsurprisingly the various ways players could navigate the world be it jumping flying or swimming added to these woes designers hiding hundreds of collectible items in the play space also compounded qa related matters evidenced by the 10 000 plus environmental bugs that littered earlier builds suffice it to say something had to give the microsoft testing team's usual procedures tasked performance testers with completing a perfect pass every two weeks allowing higher ups to determine whether or not their work in progress was trending towards production milestones given crackdown size and scope the publisher had to adapt on the fly adjusting its methodology to accommodate a pc application that extracted data without necessitating manual feedback from testers but phil wilson argued microsoft's draconian bug tracking system still missed the mark so much so that of the 37 000 bugs found 3 000 were filed as low severity and thus ignored crackdown's early growing pains did not stop there either poor feedback that logged the title's fun factor in the lower percentiles across all microsoft published games represented a heavy blow which real-time rectified within weeks in late 2006. crunch and middleware issues also wreaked havoc on the lengthy development process and it hardly helped the public interest in crackdown picked up little to no steam in the lead up to its february 2007 release microsoft's attempt to increase market visibility for crackdown materialized two-fold for one the publisher bundled halo 3 multiplayer beta keys with crackdown at launch boosting the latter's pre-order numbers at retailers such as game by a whopping 25 percent a vocal contingent of halo fans expressed dismay at the move accusing microsoft of forcing players to purchase an unanticipated full price game to unlock early access for one of 2007's most eagerly anticipated experiences both microsoft and real time defended the tactic with the publishers then director of marketing craig evans arguing that crackdown could stand on its own while phil wilson deemed it a necessary strategy to sell a new ip real time counter the halo 3 beta outrage by unleashing a pre-launch demo for crackdown on the xbox 360 marketplace developers began working on the demo five months before production wrapped thinking people would enjoy the moment-to-moment action if they got their hands on it not wanting to waste what wilson described as a golden opportunity the crew filled the trial version with a quarter of the open world environment in an mtv interview studio founder david jones explained that the demo structure revolved around ensuring players could truly get a feel for what crackdown had to offer these efforts worked wonders in the long run over six hundred thousand xbox live users downloaded the demo within two weeks securing it a place among the most downloaded demos on the xbox storefront undoubtedly such success mixed with interest in halo's beta elevated crackdown to heights it would not have otherwise reached after four years of development platform changes mid-development engine shifts and at least a couple of delays crackdown launched worldwide on the xbox 360 in february 2007. it's over-the-top action fun driving mechanics and fast-paced superhero antics left a mark on players even the clunky co-op options proved worth the trouble for those looking to enjoy the ride with friends and despite the microsoft marketing team's concerns over the exaggerated comic-like art style which didn't jive with the publisher's visual bar results from a post-launch survey revealed that most users believed crackdown's visuals constituted its best quality positive press and good word of mouth catapulted real time's debut game atop the sales charts for months on end in its first half year on the market the title shifted an impressive 1.5 million units the release of free and paid dlc served as another boon for crackdown's commercial success though real time intended to begin producing the extra content ahead of february 2007 focus on the main game reduced said plans to conceptual discussions but with half the original production team on board developers managed to start and finish the free-for-all and getting busy content in three months before releasing it into the wild in may 2007 by that september the dlc had topped 200 000 downloads on xbox live no small feat for a game that once seemed primed for a dead on arrival designation [Music] speaking to team xbox days ahead of the first game's release phil wilson divulged that real-time worlds designed crackdown with franchise growth in mind and because the team and his partners devoted so much money time and effort to the project wilson and lead designer billy thompson asserted that not producing a sequel would be wasteful ultimately the studio received no such opportunity though some crackdown veterans later played an integral role in developing the 2010 sequel the real-time crew had their hearts set on partnering with microsoft for a follow-up entry prior to the original's february 2007 debut by september of that same year however lead developers such as wilson were informing the press of the studio's plans to shift its energy towards a brand new project apb all points bulletin david jones elaborated further during a sit-down with games industry.biz telling the publication that microsoft essentially dragged its feet while real time waited for the go-ahead to enter production on crackdown 2 unable to hold out for long due to its status as an independent developer the crackdown creator took its talents elsewhere a decision many staff members would come to regret conflicting reports from both sides of the aisle complicate the narrative about why real time didn't return for crackdown second pacific city outing when wired questioned the corporate vp of microsoft's gaming division shane kim on the matter the executive claimed the studio elected to move in another direction of its own accord kim skirted the specifics but insisted the split had nothing to do with microsoft not optioning real time for a sequel studio head colin mcdonald told a different tale in the wake of late 2008 rumors alleging that microsoft had hired startup company ruffian games for a new crackdown gamasutra reported on the rumors in december 2008 having learned from anonymous sources that dundee headquartered ruffian games a newly founded development house in real time's backyard had inked a deal to produce crackdown 2. mcdonald bristled at the notion in his response to the report while microsoft hadn't presented real time with an offer the studio head said the two entities remained in ongoing discussions of an unspecified nature macdonald also doubted the publisher would harm an otherwise fruitful and existing relationship by gambling on crackdown's future with a startup parked on real-time's doorstep if microsoft had brought a different group on board he hoped the deal would at least involve an established firm capable of delivering the high quality experience crackdown users expected xbox set the record straight during its e3 2009 press conference confirming that ruffian games would helm a second crackdown game better still multiple real-time worlds alum joined ruffian to help see the project to completion including artists coders and crackdowns lead designer billy thompson the design lead clarified in an edge interview that series veterans made up approximately half of the crackdown juice squad a miffed david jones wished ruffian the best yet couldn't shake the frustration of another studio in proximity to his own spearheading the ip he created especially since recruiting talent in the region had already proven a challenge regardless of the minutia surrounding what did or didn't happen microsoft leadership felt that after investigating several companies ruffian constituted the perfect fit for the next stage of crackdown's evolution ruffian games approached the crackdown ip through the lens of crafting a bigger and better experience this notion of course applied to the game world of pacific city because a decade separated crackdown 2 from the events of its predecessor adjusting the settings overall look while maintaining a semblance of familiarity seemed the best bet high rises that towered over the city in the 2007 entry were reduced to rubble in ruffian's version with the zombie-like freak creatures returning to overwhelm what remained of the once bustling metropolis but reimagining this particular aspect of the franchise produced one key challenge for the new development house to tackle the criticisms leveled against crackdown loomed large thus addressing the most prominent critic and player concerns became a top priority during production of the sophomore effort notably issues with the freeform gameplay and mission structure sat at the forefront of crackdown's less than favorable assessments the main objective revolved around dispatching gang leaders the equivalent of boss encounters who manifested in game as regular humans boasting sizable health meters ruffian producer jim cope acknowledged how quickly this anticlimactic and unrewarding design scheme turned users away not to mention the disappointing end game content and lack of clarity with respect to the story ending also left much to be desired to improve upon past shortcomings ruffian devised a new primary objective that spanned the entirety of the second title which tasked players with piecing together parts of a larger puzzle-like narrative the through line of crackdown 2's overarching plot revolved around the implementation of project sunburst an in-universe defense system designed to eradicate the freak infestation plaguing pacific city completing the mission required users to combat a terrorist organization reactivate energy sources and dismantle freak layers each step building towards what koch deemed an ultimate objective developers banked on the revised mission structure feeling far more climactic than the older games redundant kill the boss type operations great strides were taken to similarly enhance the co-op experience whereas crackdown featured two-player drop-in dropout cooperative play its successor introduced four player co-op options alongside 16 player pvp the robust expansion of co-op capabilities in particular came as a product of ruffian's interest in guaranteeing squads of four players from all corners of the world could approach the same objectives from different angles this attention to detail additionally extended to ruffian's revamp of existing gameplay mechanics according to cope gameplay-centric goals centered around raising the bar for core mechanics because too many people abandoned crackdown in its opening hours the loss of engagement apparently stemmed from the game taking too long to unleash its entertaining main attractions one flaw crackdown two developers surmounted by allowing players to access the cool stuff earlier even with changes big and small taking precedent a few well-received facets of the original adventure remained intact including the sense of verticality the comic-esque visual style made the jump as well though the graphics did undergo a minor overhaul as ruffian leaned heavily into a darker and more cohesive tone yet slight alterations and even larger tweaks to the bass crackdown experience failed to leave a lasting impression on those who consider the sequel a mere half step microsoft and ruffian games shipped crackdown 2 on xbox 360 in july 2010 to middling review scores and mixed public reception sharper visuals refined gameplay and much improved co-op could only add so much to the already stellar foundation previously established by real-time worlds as a consequence crackdown 2 for some felt closer to crackdown 1.5 a beefier zombie-filled expansion-like escapade whose enhancements paid dividends to a degree yet brought nothing innovative to the table in other words it wasn't the sequel fans had eagerly anticipated for three years many agreed the title still offered a fun and enjoyable ride however given that navigating the play space as a super agent once again proved incredibly thrilling the engaging albeit all too familiar adventure also underperformed commercially it debuted at number three on the us sales charts falling behind the 360 and ps3 versions of ncaa football 11 with over 200 000 copies sold in its launch month crackdown 2 rose to the top of the uk charts during its first two weeks of availability before falling from the top 10 by mid-august and unlike the 2007 installment neither the developer nor the publisher boasted about the second title sales numbers disappointing market performance aside ruffian supported crackdown 2 with free and paid post-launch content freebies featured in the toybox add-on unlocked access to cheats and new abilities alongside the vehicle tag multiplayer mode the toy box's premium offers included two vehicles and a couple of avatar awards finally the deluge dlc arrived in late 2010 with additional co-op and competitive content in tow once this level of support faded so did talk of what the future entailed for crackdown as a franchise [Music] we're here to light [ __ ] up [Music] the next phase of crackdown would go down in video game history as a long sad tale marred by uncertainty lofty ambitions and a rash of delays that turned even the most ardent fans apathetic as the years wore on after ruffian games deployed crackdown 2's last bit of content in 2010 the series spent nearly three years in the dark receiving nary a mention from microsoft or its development partners strangely enough the first size of life appeared during the xbox one's may 2013 reveal briefing where an eagle-eyed viewer spied a crackdown agility orb like symbol in the bottom left corner of the console's home screen then vice president of microsoft game studios phil spencer confirmed the easter egg was no accident in an e3 interview with ign the following month reassuring concerned fans that crackdown's death knell had not yet run while spencer couldn't disclose concrete details ign z3 2013 sit down with the executive notably featured the first hint at crackdown's return as a cloud-centric endeavor spencer proclaimed the natural progression of this series existed in living open worlds powered by the cloud a notion no doubt influenced by microsoft's cloud computing initiative with azure the importance of cloud-based gaming to microsoft became even more apparent when the publisher finally unveiled a third crackdown entry at its e3 2014 press conference a lengthy cgi trailer accompanied the news showing the agency picking off targets and demolishing buildings with powerful weaponry but marketing details surrounding the reveal placed special emphasis on cloudgen the basis for the cloud computing technology that powered the new crackdown's so-called 100 destructible sandbox series creator david jones founded cloudgen after real-time worlds closed shop in 2010. jones's new studio developed technology capable of remotely delivering processing power from the cloud thereby unburdening the console from complex functions such as destruction physics so it could instead focus on rendering environments for example considering microsoft's investment in its own cloud infrastructure the union with cloud gins seemed an optimal fit for all involved the partnership evolved out of discussions between phil spencer and david jones both of whom agreed the crackdown property deserved another chance spencer informed kotaku that jones proposed injecting the cloudwork at cloudgin into a new title thus the project entered production in 2013 with cloudgin laying the foundation for the technology that fueled crackdown's enhanced destruction physics jones acted in an advisory role at the start playing a critical part in early system and ip design according to spencer speaking to eurogamer jones explained his status as that of a consultant who assisted microsoft and developers with outlining the features and general direction of crackdown 3. with respect to said developers stewardship over the embattled ip had changed hands again this is agency director charles goodwood who the hell am i talking to public discourse regarding the third crackdown centralized one specific studio following its announcement the david jones founded reagent games jones later divulged that reagents small staff operated in a consultancy capacity to help get the project off the ground insisting sumo digital the british outfit behind littlebigplanet 3 and later team sonic racing always led the charge as crackdown 3's primary developer the industry's penchant for maintaining secrecy concerning for hire studios kept sumo out of the spotlight for several years a 2018 report from eurogamer shined a light on other uk headquartered contractors that microsoft outsourced to revive its once dormant superhero ip ironically crackdown 2 team ruffian games led to helping hand while sumo digital built the story campaign reagent and ruffian reportedly handled multiplayer duty on crackdown 3 but no one on the outside looking in could have predicted how integral the online suite would become to the game as a whole the game slinked back into the shadows following its e3 2014 showcase skipping e3 2015 but reappearing at gamescom that august it was there that microsoft officially dubbed the title crackdown 3 building the latest installment as the ultimate sandbox with a 100 destructible game world and transforming vehicles press and the viewing public received more insight about cloudgen as well developers promised the cloud infrastructure would allow crackdown 3 to leverage processing power up to 20 times that of the xbox one's output though such a technical feed only applied to the multiplayer mode as a result the campaign boasted minimal levels of destruction microsoft unsurprisingly positioned crackdown's online action at the center of attention insofar as letting the first showing of gameplay footage revolve around multiplayer david jones demoed the footage for ign during gamescom breaking down the technical aspects of the mode's cloud-powered destructive capabilities if volition's launch of red faction gorilla in 2009 had teased the possibilities of large-scale destruction in games crackdown 3 seemed primed to push the boundaries further still the impressive pre-alpha build significantly boosted fan anticipation for the game which has published or amplified upon announcing plans for a multiplayer beta and full rollout in 2016. as would become customary for the third entry a release date delay extended the already long wait for crackdown's return microsoft's superhero title skipped e3 for a second straight year in 2016 followed by reagent delivering the unfortunate news of crackdown 3's postponement to 2017 citing a need for extra time to avoid compromising the scope of the team's vision oddly the studio went radio silent in early 2017 sparking unsubstantiated rumors of a potential closure david jones eventually explained reagent's departure from the spotlight as a natural course of action since it served in the capacity of a consultant to facilitate the efforts of lead developer sumo digital specifics aside reagents vanishing act culminated in sumo taking charge for crackdown 3's resurgence at e3 2017 where microsoft shared a new trailer starring actor terry crews and confirmed a november 2017 launch date that coincided with the xbox one x release the public responded indifferently to the e3 showing expressing skepticism because of the delays and questionable graphical quality as such few were surprised that the titles pushed to spring 2018. the general manager of microsoft studios publishing shannon loftus noted to polygon that sumo digital reagent games and cloud gin would spend the protracted production period balancing crackdowns game modes and polishing the visuals loftus also admitted to announcing the project far too soon phil spencer thought there revealed a shrewd move in 2014 given the persistent rumors and speculation that had long inundated the web according to loftus however the company underestimated the challenge of setting and maintaining a high quality bar for crackdown 3's various game modes namely the campaign co-op and wrecking zone multiplayer suite these challenges persisted throughout development then grew in complexity courtesy of a few behind the scenes changes in late 2017. now that's a crater anonymous sources familiar with crackdown 3's production informed eurogamer that david jones exited the project in september 2017. nonetheless hinset the split didn't hit the airwaves until fortnite creator epic games acquired cloudgin in january 2018 for an undisclosed sum the purchase raised questions about the technology's continued use in crackdown 3. though a long stretch of time passed without a concrete answer microsoft confirmed in due course that epic's ownership of cloudgin had no bearing on the final product news of jones and reagent's departure became public knowledge in june 2018 jones quickly downplayed the significance of the shift clarifying his and his team's role as more integral to the third game's embryonic phases of development although jones insisted his part diminished once developers began making real strides in terms of progress eurogamer sources allege that some of his cloud computing ambitions had far-reaching effects apparently the destruction-centric tech demo showcased at gamescom 2015 exhibited the potential of cloud gin without actually representing the game world players would get their hands on jones denied as much but the report in question painted a grim picture of a troubled production that multiple people in the uk development scene perceived to be at risk of cancellation few batted deny as crackdown 3's 2018 release window transitioned into a february 2019 due date a costly decision that xbox boss phil spencer made after playing a build that missed the mark other last minute changes included microsoft's assignment of former nintendo of america producer ken lobb in a management position providing developers with a central figure to lean on for decision making following years of working under ambiguous guidance from leadership this only remedied so much in the grand scheme of things reportedly some members of the crackdown 3 crew were convinced the resulting product would prove a disappointment regardless of the resources thrown in its direction unfortunately such beliefs manifested in the retail version once crackdown 3 hit pc and xbox one on february 15th to mediocre critical reception the paint by numbers design boasted its charms but a bland campaign that ignored how much the open world genre had evolved since crackdown's heyday felt inadequate similarly the wrecking zone multiplayer mode offered little in the way of inventive gameplay opportunities outside of its trademark destruction mechanics to make matters worse crackdown 3 arrived the same day as metro exodus and early access for bioware's anthem two titles that devoured much of the market's mindshare anthem despite myriad flaws debuted at number one on the u.s sales charts meanwhile metro secured the number 8 spot crackdown didn't so much as crack the top 20. its day and date launch on xbox's game pass service undoubtedly hurt the game's chances of wider commercial success still crackdown 2's lack of market appeal suggests the poorly received follow-up would have bombed irrespective of its availability on a streaming platform many would argue subsequent crackdowns never rose above or even upheld the bars set by the real-time world's developed installment while other creative minds tried following an established blueprint they did so at the cost of ignoring what made the original crackdown stand a cut above the competition its willingness to explore fresh ideas consequently a groundbreaking series known for pushing the envelope for a formula that had quickly grown stale got reduced to basking in its sterility should the tenuous hints at sumo digital's potential return to the brand prove accurate crackdown faithful can only hope there is a concerted effort to look to the future instead of dwelling in the past [Music] [Music] thank you for watching we'd like to take this time to think by name the generous patrons who have pledged to our 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Channel: GVMERS

Views: 273,497

Keywords: Crackdown, Crackdown 2, Crackdown 3, Crackdown 4, Microsoft, Realtime Worlds, GTA, Grand Theft Auto, Documentary, History, Rise and Fall, The Tragedy of APB: All Points Bulletin, APB, All Points Bulletin

Id: aMwGGSpZgzU

Length: 32min 52sec (1972 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 20 2022