Turtle Rock Studios, developer of the Left 4 Dead and Evolve franchises, is going back to its zombie-killing roots. It’s announced that it will be partnering with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment for Back 4 Blood. The title will be a co-op zombie shooter that’s “designed from the ground-up as an original, premium title.”
No release date has been announced, but Back 4 Blood will be releasing for Xbox One, PS4, and PC. In a recent statement, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment president David Haddad said, “We are thrilled to partner with the proven Turtle Rock Studios team on Back 4 Blood to advance the co-op zombie genre forward with innovative multiplayer gameplay. The talented team at Turtle Rock has been developing amazing games together for a long time, and this is a great opportunity to work with them to create a new gaming universe built specifically with the large co-op zombie shooter community in mind.”
Turtle Rock’s co-founder and design director Chris Ashton said, “It’s hard to overstate what an awesome opportunity this is. We get to return to a genre that was born in our studio with over ten years of additional experience and zombie ideas racked up in our brains. We also have some of the best teammates in the business at Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment who understand our development process and are equally committed to our player-first mentality. We love being able to announce, so we can start working with the community right away.”
Turtle Rock co-founder and creative director Phil Robb also threw in his lot, noting, “We are not resting on any past laurels. Our goal is to take all we’ve learned and push forward. We know that’s a tall order. We’re growing the team considerably because we’re stepping up to the biggest challenge in this studio’s history. We know this title has to stand out and we fully intend to make that happen.”
An official FAQ has also gone live to answer several questions relating to the game. Though Back 4 Blood is coming to Xbox One, PS4, and PC, “more possibilities aren’t out of the question” according to the developer. It also notes that price-wise, this will be a “premium AAA title”. What about microtransactions, which served as a big criticism against Evolve in its early stages?
“Right now, we’re focusing on making the best, most fun and exciting game we can. We’ll figure out the post-launch stuff later, but if we do have paid post-launch content, like microtransactions, we want to do something that the community feels good about,” says the developer.
And before you ask, no, this isn’t Left 4 Dead, but the studio’s own original IP. Though shooting plenty of zombies is confirmed, “there’s a whole lot of new stuff in Back 4 Blood which makes it unique”, according to the developer. That includes PvP and a campaign (but no battle royale mode).