Ender’s Game Game Cancelled by Epic

The game based on Orson Scott Card’s novel has been shelved by Chair Entertainment upon the urging of parent company Epic Games.

Ender’s Game is a great coming of age adventure story that follows a young kid’s growth as a military commander and a person. I wasn’t sure how Chair Entertainment (Shadow Complex and the recent Infinity Blade iPod game) would adapt the book to a videogame until I learned that the downloadable title would focus on the Battle Room scenes of the story. The Battle Room was very much like a sci-fi paintball, but with variables that Ender’s teachers could tweak to test the potential commander’s abilities. The concept of teams of students competing to impress their superiors would have made for a compelling game. Unfortunately, Chair Entertainment cofounder Donald Mustard announced yesterday that it would no longer work on making the game. The directive to cease development came from Epic Games, who acquired Chair in 2008.

“We have and had an amazing design for the Ender’s Game game,” Mustard said. “One of Epic’s primary objectives is to create original and unique franchises. I don’t know that Ender’s Game fits into that strategic objective anymore.”

The breakout success of Infinity Blade may have prompted the cancellation of Ender’s Game so that Chair could focus its attention on more iOS games. Still, it’s unfortunate that Chair spent at least three years working on the game since it was announced in January 2008 only to scrap it now.

Mustard didn’t rule out that he’d be willing to let another design studio tackle Ender’s Game. “If anyone decides they want to make it, I have some ideas I’d love to talk to them about,” he said.

Any fledgling game studios out there want to work with a top-notch license and make a cool game? Now’s your chance.

Source: Joystiq