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.

A number of people were left understandably disappointed when it was recently announced that Alien: Blackout would be a mobile game– hardly the full-fledged console and PC title we’ve been waiting for since Isolation launched back in 2014. However, FoxNext has assured fans that Blackout is not the only new Alien game currently in development. 

Last year, FoxNext confirmed that a new Alien title for consoles and PC was in development at Cold Iron Studios, and in a press release sent out recently, they confirmed that that was still very much the case, which means that Blackout shouldn’t be confused with that game. FoxNext confirmed that beyond Blackout, there’s “even more entries in Amanda Ripley’s story soon to be announced”, before going on to explicitly mention the Cold Iron Studios game, which, interestingly enough, they also confirmed is an MMO shooter.

“FoxNext Games’ studio, Cold Iron Studios, is also currently at work on a massively multiplayer online shooter set in the Alien cinematic universe for consoles and PC,” the press release stated. Meanwhile, the official Alien Twitter page also reassured fans that “there is still more to come… very soon.”

It should be interesting to see how an MMO shooter based on the Alien franchise works- and I’m still not sure if that’s the kind of game Isolation fans have been looking forward to. Either way, it’s best to reserve judgment for now, at least until we hear or see something more concrete about the game. Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more updates until then.

Dear Alien fans, there is still more to come… very soon. #ReadPlayWATCH #AmandaRipley

— Alien (@AlienAnthology) January 7, 2019

Remember Alien: Blackout, which was being teased and speculated upon a whole lot last month? Well, good news! It got announced today. Not so good news! It’s a mobile game. What? To quote Blizzard when they announced Diablo: Immortal, do you guys not have phones?

The actual game looks really interesting, to be fair. It seems to be a Five Nights at Freddy kind of thing with an Alien skin, and involves the player playing as Amanda Ripley, overseeing their crew and guiding them to safety while avoiding encounters with the Xenomorphs that could be fatal for them. The game itself is going to come to iOS, Android, and Kindle, and will be developed by D3 GO!, who have previously worked on Marvel Puzzle Quest.

Now, for those of you who don’t want a mobile game, there’s some hope—this doesn’t seem to be the console and PC game under development at Cold Iron, given that it’s not being developed by Cold Iron. So, there’s still a console Alien game in the works! Just, we don’t know when it’s coming.

Update:

Alien: Blackout has been officially announced for iOS, Android, and Kindle.  

Original Story:

Yesterday, we reported on a tweet from the Alien Anthology Twitter about what seemed to be a sequel to Alien: Isolation. Rumoured to be called Alien: Blackout, the tweet talked Amanda Ripley, Isolation’s protagonist, and how her story “deserves to be told”. The hashtag #ReadPlayWatch also suggested we’d be doing more than just playing the next chapter in her story.

However, a subsequent tweet may have provided some information on when the sequel will be revealed. “40 years ago, the Nostromo disappeared… In 2019, Amanda Ripley will uncover the secrets it left behind — no matter what.” The hashtags #AmandaRipley and #ReadPlayWatch followed, but there was another hashtag that simply said #January.

If a reveal does take place this month, it would be interesting to see what the sequel could offer. Back in January 2018, we learned that Cold Iron Studios was working on a new Aliens game and that it would be a shooter. How much it could depart from Alien: Isolation, which had shooter elements but was more of a first person psychological horror title, also remains to be seen.

40 years ago, the Nostromo disappeared… In 2019, Amanda Ripley will uncover the secrets it left behind — no matter what. #AmandaRipley #ReadPlayWatch #January pic.twitter.com/N5XybNB1Tj

— Alien (@AlienAnthology) January 5, 2019

Alien: Isolation launched all the way back in 2014, and in the years since then, fans have been waiting for a sequel to the survival horror title with bated breath. In a new post put up by the official Alien Twitter page, that sequel might be being hinted at.

Why? Well, because it’s all about Amanda Ripley- while the character has been part of the movie franchise as well, she is usually most often associated with Alien Isolation, in which she played the role of the protagonist. A short clip in the tweet asks “Who is Amanda Ripley?”, following that up with the words “Read. Play. Watch”, and finally, “Coming Soon”. The video, meanwhile, is accompanied with a short message: “Daughter. Rebel. Hero. Her story deserves to be told…”

Back in January of 2018, it was confirmed that a new Alien game is in development at Cold Iron Studios for consoles and PC, while later on in the year, a trademark suggested that it might be called Alien: Blackout. Beyond that, however, there’s been no official word on the game, so stay tuned to GamingBolt, and we’ll keep you updated on any new info that comes our way.

Daughter. Rebel. Hero. Her story deserves to be told…
#Whois #AmandaRipley #ReadPlayWatch #Daughter #Rebel #Hero pic.twitter.com/NMwdK60oGU

— Alien (@AlienAnthology) January 5, 2019

At the beginning of 2018, we heard that a new Alien game was in development at Cold Iron Studios- since then, there’s been radio silence on everything to do with that project. However, a new trademark registration might have provided us with an update for the game.

20th Century Fox have registered a trademark for Alien: Blackout, with the registration confirming that it’s for “video game software”. Meanwhile, as DualShockers reports, there has also been a Twitter page for Alien: Blackout live since September- the account is set to private, so we can’t see its tweets (of which there seem to be only two), but we can see that it has the logo of Foxnext as its profile picture.

Foxnext, in case you don’t know, is a holding company for Cold Iron Studios, and also falls under the 20th Century Fox blanket- not too hard to connect all those dots, as you might imagine.

Of course, it goes without saying, this isn’t an announcement by any means, and shouldn’t be taken as such. However, with The Game Awards just around the corner, it wouldn’t be a leap to wonder whether Alien Blackout, if that is indeed what the next Alien game is called, will be announced there. We already know that most major developers and publishers are going to be at the ceremony, and also that the lineup for new game announcements is larger than it has ever been, so it’s certainly within the realm of possibility.