Earlier this week, developer V1 Interactive announced that they are shutting down. This is the studio that set itself up in order to make something that had never been seen before in games. That game was meant to be Disintegration, but something went wrong. The game never really landed with most players, causing a huge rift between those who understood it, and those who couldn’t get their head around what the game was. I was definitely one of the latter group. I still don’t really know what this game is. I’m glad it was made, but I’m so sorry at the same time to see a studio shutting down because of a lack of that game’s success.
V1 Interactive was touted as a studio made up of veterans. These are the people who made Halo and so many other franchises great. That meant that they have a proven track record, but it didn’t mean that they could make a fantastic game on their own. The thing is, they did. Disintegration looks awesome, the gameplay, whatever it is, is solid, and I only hear good things about the story. The problem seems to have been getting people to understand the game.
Disintegration looks like an action-heavy game. In truth, you’re on a bike and are directing the action. You can definitely shoot at enemies, but the main focus of your time in the game players more like an RTS than an FPS. I think this will have put a lot of people off. The RTS market is small, and the games there are beloved because they do what they do very well. Disintegration seemed to do a good job of bringing both elements to the table, it just wasn’t fantastic at either. At best, I’d call it a clunky experiment with blending the two genres. There’s a reason they’re separate though.
I still think that this universe and the studio that made it could go on to produce something else incredible. Unfortunately, it won’t be as V1 Interactive. Maybe we’ll see an evolution of Disintegration in the future though. Who knows what’s around the corner?
