When a new Alien title was teased, namely one that would continue the tale of Amanda Ripley from Alien: Isolation, fans were fairly ecstatic. Of course, when the announcement of Alien: Blackout as a mobile title was made, FoxNext incurred quite a bit of wrath. Comparisons to Blizzard’s infamous reveal of Diablo: Immortal were made, even though FoxNext confirmed that an MMO shooter based on the film series was in development for consoles and PC.
In a new interview with Variety, TQ Jefferson, VP of external development at FoxNext, addressed some of the news around Alien: Blackout. Concerning the backlash against the title being on mobiles and how it was like the disappointment surrounding Diablo: Immortal, Jefferson said, “I can see some people making a connection between ‘Diablo’ and this, but I think it’s a bit of a leap. The ‘Diablo’ backlash was focused on free-to-play and mobile, our game is a premium mobile game where you pay one price and you’re done. It’s a contained experience.”
Jefferson did state that 20th Century Fox was aware of the demand for an Alien: Isolation sequel. While he confirmed that Alien: Isolation 2 was not in development, Jefferson noted, “But it’s not that binary. There are a lot of stories we can tell in the franchise. We can tell more stories about Amanda Ripley without it being an ‘Isolation’ game.”
Disgruntled fans on PC and consoles can still look forward to Cold Iron Studios’ shooter, which was first confirmed to be in development back in January 2018. For the time being, a first person stealth horror title seems to be on the back-burner. Plans could change though – we’ll wait and see how Alien: Blackout pans out in the meantime.
