Marcus Lehto has served for more than a decade at Halo‘s original studio Bungie before assuming the mantle of creative director for Disintegration. This V1 Interactive developed sci-fi shooter had an underwhelming critical and commercial reception, following which servers for the game were shut down last year. Not long afterward, V1 Interactive itself also closed its doors.

What Lehto is currently working on remains a mystery for now. Given his penchant for continually dabbling into sci-fi shooters, it wouldn’t be a surprise if he takes another crack at developing a game using a similar setting. However, it would certainly be interesting to see what challenges await Lehto in his journey, and hopefully, fans get something great out of it.

Making some pretty big decisions with my career this week. Some of you will support it, some will not. I just ask that you all join me on this next leg of journey. It’s going to be big!

— Marcus Lehto (@game_fabricator) September 22, 2021

The gaming industry right now is in one of its biggest boom periods, but unfortunately it doesn’t mean anyone and everyone is getting a piece of that pie. Smaller studios still very much struggle to get into the market share and today we got an announcement of one such example.

V1 Interactive announced today via their official Twitter that they would be closing down. They gave a big thank you out to fans and the talented people at the studio. While there is not that many full details, most likely it stems from the apparently failure of the studios’ debut game, Disintegration.

The studio was formed roughly five years ago. They released the shooter, RTS hybrid title Disintegration with publisher Private Division. The game had some promise, but apparently could not muster an audience. It’s multiplayer element was shut down less than a year after the game released. It’s unclear what the future holds for that game, though its single player portion is still being sold.

We are sad to inform you that V1 Interactive is officially closing.
We want to thank all the talented people at V1, both past and present, who helped make the last 5 years wonderful.
And a heartfelt thanks to the amazing community that supported us. pic.twitter.com/XX6Sxtc32o

— V1 Interactive (@V1Interactive) March 8, 2021

Nemesis (Second Form) – Resident Evil 3 Remake

For how disappointing the overall experience was compared to the Resident Evil 2 remake, seeing Nemesis’s redesigned forms in the Resident Evil 3 remake was pretty cool. However, while the second form was appropriately grotesque and menacing with its size and agility, it just couldn’t make up for the removal of the original’s clock tower sequence. At least the Nemesis climbs up on top of the clock tower at some point and mean-eyes at you. That’s kind of neat.

Marvel’s Avengers

When Marvel’s Avengers was first revealed, “yikes” was the only real way to describe it, from the characters’ looks to the proud announcement of no loot boxes. All of this before any real gameplay, mind you. Following the game’s first delay, Crystal Dynamics began offering up more details and its looter focus became a bit clearer. But cue the first beta, which was monumentally flawed from the get-go, and the anticipation for launch became all the more soured. Sure enough at launch, Marvel’s Avengers suffered from performance issues, connectivity issues, balance issues, the list goes on. Even from a design standpoint, it was criticized for its grindy gameplay, one-note mission design, shallow end-game, lackluster loot, etc etc.

While it did sell an impressive 2.2 million digital units in its debut month, Square Enix would reveal in its second quarter FY2021 financial briefing that sales were lower than expected. In fact, development costs had yet to be recouped and the company suffered an operating loss of about $67 million. New content is on the way with the two Hawkeyes and Spider-Man, not to mention launches for Xbox Series X/S and PS5 next year but for now, Marvel’s Avengers is perhaps this year’s biggest commercial flop.

Disintegration came in with a lot of hype, being billed as from one of the original Creators of Halo and a bold new take on the shooter genre. It was a mix of both shooter and strategy game, and was rather unique. It was a solid enough experience, even if quite rough around the edges. Unfortunately, it seems that it just couldn’t find the audience it needed, and now the multiplayer is gone.

In the most recent update, 1.06, it was confirmed in the patch notes that the multiplayer has now been removed. It isn’t a surprise by any mean, it was announced in September that the multiplayer would be axed sometime this month. The game only released in June of this year, making the whole thing a very short affair. The game is still fully playable single player, however, if you’re curious.

Disintegration is available now for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC as a single player only title.

Halo co-creator Marcus Lehto and his team at indie studio V1 Interactive launched Disintegration halfway through June, bringing a unique mix of shooters and strategy titles. Met with mixed reception from players and critics, Disintegration wasn’t the success that its developers would have been hoping it would be, and it seems it hasn’t managed to retain a very strong player base in the months since its release.

V1 Interactive and publisher Private Division recently announced in a joint statement that the multiplayer servers of Disintegration will be shut down soon, with all multiplayer modes being removed from the game, owing to a lack of enough players being actively engaged with it. The game’s in-game store has been removed already, and multiplayer features will continue to be deactivated over the next couple of months. By November 17, Disintegration will have become a single player-only experience.

“We have made the difficult decision to remove Disintegration’s multiplayer modes from the game across all platforms,” the statement reads. “This will be done in phases over the coming months, starting today with the removal of the in-game store, and will conclude on November 17th with the full removal of multiplayer. The single player campaign will remain fully playable moving forward.”

Private Division and V1 went on to assert in its statement that they stand by the creative risks taken by the development team. Though the game “struggled to build a significant audience necessary for a compelling multiplayer experience”, the developer and publisher firmly state that “the video game industry needs constant innovation”.

“From both the development team at V1 Interactive and publishing group at Private Division, we stand by the creative risks taken to launch such a unique, genre-bending game created by this small but talented and passionate team,” the statement reads. “While our player base showed interest in the single player campaign, the game unfortunately struggled to build a significant audience necessary for a compelling multiplayer experience. After weighing options, we have collectively made the decision to sunset the multiplayer support.

“We believe the video game industry needs constant innovation, and we will continue to take risks, follow creative visions, and support new ideas. To everyone who has played Disintegration: we thank you.”

Disintegration is available on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. In our review of the game, we called it “a straightforward experiment that offers an intriguing if derivative world to explore and characters to like.” You can read our full review through here.

Among many companies sharing their financial results for the quarter ending June 30th 2020 was Take Two Interactive. The publisher revealed that its main breadwinner, Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto 5, had sold over 135 million units till date. As GamesIndustry.biz notes, the free giveaway on the Epic Games Store helped bolster sales with Take Two CEO Strauss Zelnick stating that the initiative was about “increasing the size of the audience.”

Red Dead Redemption 2 has also performed very well with 32 million units sold but it seems that NBA 2K20 was the biggest winner. Along with selling 14 million units since launch, recurrent consumer spending year-over-year was up by 126 percent in the first quarter. Net bookings are the highest ever for a title in the franchise.

Gearbox’s Borderlands 3 sales crossed 10.5 million while Obsidian Entertainment’s The Outer Worlds managed to hit 2.8 million units sold. No sales numbers were provided on V1 Interactive’s Disintegration, which Take Two’s indie label Private Division had published, but Zelnick noted that its performance was a “bit disappointing.”

V1 Interactive’s Disintegration didn’t perform all that well at launch, and the average critical reception didn’t help (check out our review here). The developer is committed to support though with future updates still in the works. In the meantime, it’s hosting a free weekend for the game on Xbox One, PS4 and PC starting June 30th to allow more players to try it out.

Check out the timings for the free weekend on each platform below:

• PS4 – July 30 at 9 AM PST until August 3 at 9 AM PST
• Xbox One – July 30 at 12 AM PST until August 2 at 11:59 PM PST
• PC – July 30 at 12 AM PST until August 3 at 10 AM PST

Along with multiplayer, the single-player campaign will also be available with all progress from the free weekend transferring over when buying the full version. It tells the story of Rohmer as he teams up with a band of other Integrated and Outlaws to stop the Rayonne. The main hook of the game is its mix of first person shooter action and real-time tactics.

While commanding a Gravcycle in the air and raining down death on foes, Rohmer will also command friendly units to take cover, flank enemies and unleash different abilities. There are a variety of different Gravcycles, which makes multiplayer interesting with its different Crews and playstyles. Stay tuned for future updates on the game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGREyQtNiF8

Warcraft 3: Reforged

How do you possibly mess up a classic game like Warcraft 3? It’s one thing to have multitudes of bugs, horrible multiplayer, an underwhelming UI, and an uneven graphics update. It’s quite another to claim ownership over all custom games with players not even getting credit. Or outright lying about remastered cutscenes and presentation. Or making it so that owners of the original had to update to Reforged, thus ruining their nostalgia as well. Or a dozen other things that make you wonder how Blizzard got to this point.

"Despite how typical the story can be, the overall worldbuilding can be pleasant."

The story is set in the near future with the Earth ruined by natural disasters, economic downturns and the eventual collapse of society. To help cope with the sheer downfall of the planet, humanity invented “Integration”, the practice of transferring one’s mind into a robot body. The robots could survive the harsh conditions and even thrive with limited sources. Though meant to be temporary, it wasn’t long before the fanatical Reyonne decided that Integration was humanity’s next big evolutionary step. Thus it set about capturing humans, turning them into soldiers aka “red eyes” and generally being mean.

You play as Romer Shoal, an Integrated human held captive on the Reyonne’s Iron Cloud. After being set free by other Integrated, Romer and his new allies work together with various outlaws to stop the Reyonne (and perhaps get their human forms back). Each squadmate has a fairly defined character type – Cocqui is the light-hearted one, Seguin is the stern type, Agnes is warm but defiant, and Doyle is the bruiser. There’s also Wagoner, a mysterious old man that assists the rebellion and lends you a base and Gravcycle. And wouldn’t you know it but Romer happens to be quite the Gravcycle pilot.

You and your crew are sent on lengthy missions to scavenge for scrap, assist the outlaws or stop the Reyonne from destroying a dam (with challenges that can be acquired between each mission). Despite how typical the story can be, the overall worldbuilding can be pleasant. Your squadmates will talk about various happenings, the fate of humans who resisted Integration, the state of the world and even their own desires and ambitions. There’s some entertainment to be had but not every clever bit of banter lands or feels appropriate for each mission. The atmosphere of a ruined world, an almost desolate kind of beauty pervading the air is solid, if nothing else.

"Extensive cooldowns for some of the crazier abilities means you’ll be using concussive grenades to stagger enemies and then taking them down with gunfire more often than not."

As you embark on missions, you’ll be hovering over the battlefield, providing fire support and issuing commands. The controls in this sense can take some getting used to, especially when switching between healing and shooting, but they’re intuitive enough with time (at least on PC). Your crewmates have their own AI but will still require some direction when things get hectic. Which abilities to use, targets to focus and when to fall back are all up to you.

Each crewmate has their own unique class so soldiers like Agnes and Cocqui are good for stunning foes with their concussive grenades while Doyle can launch a destructive salvo of missiles. Combining abilities, like Seguin’s slowing field with Doyle’s mortar strike, can lead to devastating results. However, extensive cooldowns for some of the crazier abilities means you’ll be using concussive grenades to stagger enemies and then taking them down with gunfire more often than not.

This can become repetitive especially when every mission boils down to rushing to the next objective and taking down squads of foes again and again (with some waiting in a protective field, as is the cae in on mission). Enemies on the ground doing their best to avoid your flanks and reinforcements swarming from different directions keeps things tense especially when snipers and heavy Rhino units come into play. However, the AI for both allies and enemies can be a little uneven. On the one hand, your units will follow closely, take cover and execute commands with little hindrance. On the other, they’ll run outside healing fields to pursue enemies while damaged or ignore foes that are right up in their literal grills.

"Disintegration, in a nutshell, can be fun when chaos reigns and the orchestral score is kicked up a notch."

Spamming the indicator is key in some situations but your squad will often get caught by those annoying mines (which are ominpotent, I swear) and other hazards. It’s not a game-breaking occurrence so much as an annoyance that crops up again and again. At least upgrading them increases their damage and survivability. As for the enemy AI, for every intelligent move they make, there are the obligatory hiccups like charging into your backline without a care in the world.

Disintegration, in a nutshell, can be fun when chaos reigns and the orchestral score is kicked up a notch. It can be pretty dull when you realize that levels only really have one linear path despite their openness, with huge skirmishes only being tackled head-on. Its shooting is responsive, even if its time-to-kill in PvE reinforces the need to stagger enemies and focus fire (especially when enemy health and damage is bumped up at Maverick difficulty and beyond). The story isn’t incredible but it’s entertaining enough and gets the job done while acquainting you with the world and the appealing cast. The hub areas are nice but simplistic with very little to actually see as you run from one green speech bubble to the next.

Nothing really drags the experience down but nothing really stands out as amazing either. This is all the more apparent in multiplayer when two teams of five Crews battle it out. You’ll partake in three modes – Collector, Retrieval and Zone Control – with each player having their own Gravcycle and squadmates. The maps offer enough cover for Gravcycles and room for maneuverbility along with a decent amount of flanking routes and paths. The long time-to-kill is all the more reinforced here, with special weapons like the Warhead and Shotguns mixing things up. Regardless, engagements are meant to be more drawn out – your units fight on the ground, their abilities feeling somewhat superfluous. Sometimes, it can feel weird just hovering around and boosting every now and again when you take too much damage.

"All in all, despite all the strategy inherent, multiplayer amounts to some dumb arcade-like action at the end of the day."

Collector is your standard Kill Confirmed mode and the overall crew abilities don’t stand out much. By comparison, there’s more strategy involved in Zone Control since you can control choke points, lobbing Concussion Grenades and slow fields to gain an advantage. Fights are often determined by who gets the drop on who, whether your teammates are around to assist in kills or if you’re caught on the unlucky end of a Warhead. The skill floor in multiplayer is relatively low, allowing for easy entry but there’s not a whole lot to master.

It is fun to experiment with the different crews, each with their own tailor-made Gravcycles and compositions that cater to different play-styles. You can go full durability with The Militia or sacrifice that for speed with Neon Dreams. Each crew has their own assigned unit types as well – some like The Business will only offer two squadmates while others provide three. They even have their own challenges to complete and cosmetics to unlock.

All in all, despite all the strategy inherent, multiplayer amounts to some dumb arcade-like action at the end of the day. Though I didn’t spend too much time with it, PvP didn’t strike me as anything particularly noteworthy or having a long shelf-life. Whether new modes or quality of life changes can fix that remains to be seen.

"There just isn’t much to this tactical strategy-meets-sci-fi-FPS style of gameplay, leading to an enjoyable but quickly forgettable experience."

Even if Disintegration isn’t the most graphically intense title out there, it does have a nice aesthetic to it (even if its influences are almost too obvious, especially in the level design). Performance is similarly solid with no slowdown and only one or two crashes to speak of. Despite how much the signature Halo theme is evoked in the soundtrack, I still got a kick out of Disintegration‘s music.

At the end of the day, Disintegration feels like it could have done more. The gameplay isn’t mind-blowing but it’s fun enough that you can play through the campaign without many hang-ups. More polish for the AI, tighter pacing for the story and more varied mission objectives would definitely help its cause. But there just isn’t much to this tactical strategy-meets-sci-fi-FPS style of gameplay, leading to an enjoyable but quickly forgettable experience.

This game was reviewed on PC.