Since the moment it was revealed, Bleeding Edge has looked vastly different from the kind of games developer Ninja Theory usually makes. While the multiplayer brawler still focuses on melee combat and action like previous studio titles, it’s entirely different in other ways- such as its lack of a narrative-driven single player experience (though those could arrive in the future). Given its somewhat experimental nature, you might assume that the scope of its development hasn’t exactly been the largest- which, as it turns out, is exactly right.
Speaking recently to GamesIndustry, Bleeding Edge creative director Rahni Tucker got to talking about the game’s development, and how it started off. “When I first thought of the idea, I was like, ‘Why doesn’t this exist?’ It feels like it should,” said Tucker. “We put a really small team together, started prototyping some ideas and experimenting to see whether the idea would actually work. And it did, so we made the game.”
Tucker went on to reveal that Bleeding Edge has only been worked on by about a quarter of Ninja Theory’s total workforce at most. On average, the team’s size has been about 15 people. At one point, there were 25 people working on Bleeding Edge, which is as large as the development team ever got.
Bleeding Edge is out on March 24 for Xbox One and PC. You can check out over 10 minutes of gameplay footage from the brawler through here.